Review of peer to peer lending developments in 2008

December 22, 2008December 21, 2008 wiseclerk 3 Comments

As the end of 2008 approaches here is a look back on the highlights of peer to peer lending news in 2008:

February: Gartner predicts that by 2010 social lending captures 10% market share; p2p lending in Poland takes off; IOUcentral launches in Canada – only to be suspended by regulator a week later
April: Lendingclub enters quiet period for SEC registration; Cashare launches p2p lending service in Switzerland; Prosper goes national with 36 percent max. interest rate – partnering with WebBank; Zopa UK reshapes markets – concentrates on 36 and 60 months loan terms
May: MyC4 has new interface and shifts currency risks to lenders
August: Zopa UK launches young market; Maneo launches p2p lending services in Japan
September: Kiva repayments are now immediately available for reinvestment; Zopa grows in Italy – has secondary market
October: Loanio launches in the US; Friendsclear launches in France; Smava raises more venture capital; Zopa US closes; Veecus launces p2p microfinance; Lending club comes out of quiet period and introduces secondary market note trading platform; Prosper enters quiet period for SEC registration; Kiva wins grant; more than 685M US$ p2p lending volume; two funds will invest more than 2M Euro in Africa through MyC4
November: 50 million US$ Kiva loans reached; Comunitae gets funding; SEC orders Prosper to cease and desist; Loanio suspends operations
December: Class action lawsuit and other legal troubles challenge Prosper

Kokos adds insurance

October 20, 2008October 21, 2008 wiseclerk

Polish p2p lending service Kokos.pl recently added insurance options for borrowers. Kokos offers the insurances in cooperation with Cardif Polska S.A and Cardif Assurances Risques Divers S.A.. Insurable risks include death, disability to work and unemployment. There is a choice of 8 different insurance packages.

via antyweb

Poland: Monetto has financed 1 million Zloty loans in 4 months

July 26, 2008 wiseclerk 2 Comments

Monetto.pl, one of the three p2p lending services active in Poland has financed 1450 loans applications resulting in 440 loans totaling 1 million Zloty (approx 0.5 million US$) in 4 months. The average loan amount is 2300 Zloty. The service claims 8000 registered users and a repayment rate of 97% so far (which is said to be a good result).

Borrowers are usually aged 35 to 50, and live in rural areas or small cities. Lenders on the other hand are typically aged 25 to 30 and live in the major cities.

Monetto plans to introduce new features, including guarantees for lenders.

Lucas Banach, CEO of Prender the company that runs Monetto, says that cooperations with e-commerce sites (e.g. Kupujemy.pl) are essential for the growth of Monetto.pl.

Competitor Kokos.pl claims 13000 registered users and 1.2 million Zloty loans on its website. Kokos launched 5 months ago.

(Sources 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

Report on p2p lending in Poland

July 9, 2008 wiseclerk

Accenture in cooperation with Gemius published a report (english, polish page) on the polish p2p lending market. The report looks at the parameters of the polish p2p lending sites Kokos (see our earlier interview with Kokos), Finansowo and Monetto. The report in detail shows the result of a survey of 1075 internet users on questions of various social lending aspects.

via thebankwatch.com

Three p2p lending players competing in Poland

February 24, 2008 wiseclerk

In Poland there will be three p2p lending services competing for borrowers and lenders:

Kokos.pl (launched). I did an interview with Kokos last week.
Finansowo.pl (launching within next week)
Monetto.pl (launching soon)

The services are positioned quite differently, with different minimum loan sizes ranging from 500 PLN (approx 200 US$) to 3,000 PLN. Furthermore Finansowo appearantly will not do any credit score checking and "will not touch the money", so apparently payments need to be conducted directly between borrower and lender.

All sites target a young audience aged 22 to 34 and think that Polish customers are open to new ideas.

(Source: Virtuous cycle)

Kokos – p2p lending in Poland

February 17, 2008February 18, 2008 wiseclerk 2 Comments

Kokos.pl launched the first p2p lending service in Poland. I interviewed Dorota Janik, PR Manager of Bluemedia, about the new service.

P2P-Banking.com: Can you please describe Kokos?

Dorota Janik: Kokos.pl is the first p2p lending or social lending system in Poland. It opens new possibilities in e-finance industry and fills a niche between offers of banks and other financial institutions.

The main advantage of Kokos.pl is being able to offer a much more beneficial interest range for both the lenders and borrowers, and a higher level of security than on other web based auction systems.

The most stress has been put on the borrower verification process. Kokos.pl uses Biuro Informacji Gospodarczej (BIG) to check borrowers credit history and to assign their rating in the system. Continue reading →