We've been reading allegations that the regulator doesn't see eye-to-eye with the taxman over the new Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA).  FT Adviser broke the story on Tuesday and it was picked up by Crowdfund Insider and Money& Co. yesterday. 

This news is worrying, if true. As we reported two weeks ago, lending platforms are going through an obstacle course to get their IFISA offerings approved by both the FInancial Conduct Authority (FCA) and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) before the new tax year starts on the 6th April. If the organs of government are arguing over the details, businesses and taxpapers cannot resolve the uncertainty. 

Britain's startup entrepreneurs value our membership of the EU and will be voting 'Remain' in the refrendum, according to a survey published today.

The survey was conducted by Coadec, the Coalition for a Digital Economy, which was founded by tech entrepreneurs and  campaigns for government policies that support digital startups and help them contribute to the UK's economic growth.

Powa Technologies, a British 'unicorn' company valued at £1.8billion, was forced into administration on Friday afternoon, after, astonishingly, it ran out of money. We understand that investors withdrew funds after the Financial Times reported that the mobile commerce company had been struggling to pay its staff and suppliers and had only $250,000 in the bank.

Powa has never raised money via crowdfunding. All its investment rounds have been done in the mainstream of finance. But we're covering the story here because we've read such negative press about crowdunding and failure in the last week or two, and we want our readers to be able to make a relevant comparison.  

This morning's Financial Times suggests that the time has come for peer-to-peer lending to shed the word 'alternative' and admit that it is thoroughly mainstream. The FT clearly doesn't share our understanding of the word, or the way that finance has developed in the last two years.

We agree with the writer, Emma Dunkley, when she says that when Zopa launched in 2005, nobody saw what was coming.

Sarah Wadham, the Director General of the Enterprise Investment Scheme Association (EISA) has announced she will be stepping down at the end of March.  She will remain a director on the board of the not-for-profit association.

EISA is the official trade body for firms which aid the provision of capital to UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and its younger sibliing, the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS).