My last post here generated quite an in depth discussion among the readers of this blog. This got me thinking....
Hot on the heels of their banking license approval last month, leading UK fintech Zopa has announced interest rates for...
Fintech funding rounds of this size are few and far between- Zopa plans to use the investment to further its plan to "be Britain's best bank."
The marketplace lending industry's first peer-to-peer lender has created a waiting list for new investors and is currently only accepting funds from existing investors; the investor waiting list began on March 9 and follows the previous halting of new money from all investors on its platform in December; the waiting list is another effort to keep processing times down; demand for loans on the platform was higher in February as more investors identified the loan investments for their high yields among other regional alternatives; Zopa has reported plans for expansion to secured car loans and is also continuing with its plans for launching a digital bank. Source
Zopa, who specializes in unsecured consumer loans may be looking to expand into secured loans, specifically the auto segment; the company sees a healthy level of demand but a generally poor consumer experience; Zopa's Chief Marketing Officer Amy Miller stated, "People are getting poor deals in that area and end up paying significantly higher annual percentage rates than they would if they arranged their financing before going into a dealership."; the company is also reportedly considering other loan terms, such as 18 month loans as well as a balloon payment loan. Source
By Vivian Wagner A general guide to person-to-person lending sites Choosing the right social lending site depends on your needs,...
It took 18 months but Zopa has finally been granted a full banking license and can move forward with new...
While speaking as a keynote at LendIt Europe 2017 Zopa CEO Jaidev Janardana said old school banking was a zero-sum game; he explained how Zopa is looking to build what he thinks will be a fairer bank based on customer needs; they are currently about halfway through the licensing process. Source.
The UK's oldest and biggest online lender will be cutting rates by 0.2% across all accounts for the third time in the last five months; Chief Product Officer Andrew Lawson told investors via email that since competitors have been cutting rates they also needed to continue their rate cuts and they could also see this trend continuing; left with a choice of cutting rates or lending to a risky borrower, Zopa opted to cut rates and keep their lending practices static. Source
In an interview with Business Insider at LendIt Europe Zopa CEO Jaidev Janardana says even though new investors are on hold they are growing lending volumes by as much as 50 percent; the investor waiting list is over 15,000 and the current plan is to have them start investing by year end; the interview also touched on consumer credit and the overall economy in the UK. Source.