"So if you were asking questions last June or even September, you would get the feeling that people were perhaps pausing for thought - both on the investment deployment side of it and the investors looking to take advantage of the reliefs for both EIS and VCTs.
"But as things progressed, people perhaps became more comfortable that the world hadn't stopped turning and you've seen that increase in confidence.
"The watchword is probably caution but investors are keen to have access to the best opportunities."
This has been borne out on the levels of money flowing into these sort of tax-efficient vehicles.
Manley pointed to the VCT market in particular, where fund raising in total reached £685m for the tax year just gone and the third highest year ever for fundraising.
"So I think things have moved onto a more positive footing in the past few months", he added.
To view the full interview, including discussions on the demographic changes within the EIS and VCT sector, click on the image above.
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
