LendingClub, posted Q4 21 and full-year results after market close on Wednesday, sharing revenue and earnings that beat expectations.
Nearly a full year after buying RadiusBank, LendingClub boasted revenue of $262.2M and diluted earnings per share of $0.27.
“I’d like to give a huge shout out to our highly engaged and resilient employee base of LendingClub,” CEO Scott Sanborn said during the earnings call. “Thank you all for a great year, and I can’t wait to tackle 2022 together. We are well-positioned to thrive.”
In full-year 2021, the firm collected revenue of $818.6M, up 157% compared to ’20. And more importantly, profitability that stands out among the fintech neo bank market. LC attributes its gains to a successfully transitioning business model after acquiring a bank.
Marketplace revenue grows
The report said marketplace revenue grew 136% higher and the new recurring stream of net interest income was 259% higher year-over-year.
The firm reached long-term profitability in 2021, with a net income of $18.6 million for the year, compared to a net loss of $187.5 million in 2020. And besides integrating services under the banking model, LC focused on combining auto refinance and purchase finance loans onto one origination platform in the past year.
LendingClub has beaten predictions on earnings for the entire year of 2021. For Q4 ’21, analysts predicted EPS of $0.22 and revenue of $246M. However, the firm’s stock price moved lower after hours, likely due to an ongoing bear week for stocks the market over.
“Our strong financial results reflect the power of our new digital marketplace banking model, which combines our industry-leading marketplace technology with the strategic and financial advantages of our digital banking platform,” Tom Casey, Chief Financial Officer, said during the call.
“Our efforts to radically transform over the last year are now complete as promised, and position Lending Club to continue to build on this strong momentum as we enter 2022.”
In a forward-looking statement on the year to come, Sanborn said he expects the transformed business model and advantages of becoming a bank to become fully realized: “to help drive more than $100 million in incremental earnings in 2022 as we continue to evolve our member-focused business into a multi-product, digital marketplace bank.”
