The UK Crowdfunding Association’s (UKCFA’s) 36h sub-group has set out its priorities for the year ahead as it marks its first anniversary.

The 36h Group was launched in March 2022 to give the crowdfunding trade body’s peer-to-peer lending platform members a dedicated forum in which to discuss P2P-specific issues.

Its initial focus was the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) proposals on strengthening financial promotion rules for high-risk investments, which went live in February 2023.

Atuksha Poonwassie (pictured), managing director of Simple Crowdfunding and director of the UKCFA, has revealed some of the group’s other core objectives.

These include lobbying the Treasury for support, especially regarding non-bank lending initiatives, and to get the British Business Bank to better engage with the sector.

Another aim is to promote P2P lending and regulated decentralised finance as a proven asset class and to provide standardised reporting to facilitate performance benchmarking.

Read more: Regulation special report: Status: It’s complicated

Poonwassie said the group wants to prepare and update an investment paper aimed at family offices, discretionary fund managers, financial advisers and other financial services professionals, representing the 36h Group members.

The group also wants to persuade the FCA to “have certain P2P agreements recognised as readily realisable securities instead of as restricted mass-market investments.”

She said conversations continue with the FCA on this and further details will be shared when appropriate.

Read more: The people at the top of P2P trade bodies

The group now has six founder members: Abundance, Dacxi, Medici Legal, Rebuildingsociety, Simple Crowdfunding and Sourced Capital.

Founder supporters include Adempi, CMS and Legal Alternative.

The organisation is separate to Innovate Finance’s 36H Group, which is being disbanded and its members absorbed into the wider fintech trade body.