The site Loanio.com currently only consists of an announcement saying “People Lending to People – Coming Soon”. But they are already advertising the site.
US
Zopa will launch national in the US
British p2p lending service Zopa.com announced in an email, that it now plans to launch nationwide in the US changing older plans for a US launch limited to California. No date was given but sources say the launch is not immanent, but could rather take place mid-year.
Zopa to branch out into additional markets
Zopa, a competitor of Prosper.com, is on it's way to enter two additional markets (aside from UK and the long planned launch in California), informed sources say.
This source stating Zopa will launch in Germany as next country, is a false report however. It is based on a misleading interpretation of a German newspaper interview.
A summary of the situation for p2p lending in Germany is published at p2p-kredite.com. It states that there are tough regulatory issues to be solved and that it is expected that a first service might launch in late 2007 or early 2008.
Does FYGO have the better p2p-lending concept?
In a recent blogpost James Gardner argues that FYGO may have an advantage over Prosper in P2P lending because with FYGO, you are either borrowing from someone you know directly, or who they know directly.
While it might be true that at FYGO the defaults will be lower than at Prosper, I do not think you can compare both approaches directly. They have different target audiences and are essentially different markets with very different conditions