zopa.com

Zopa loan volume

wiseclerk 2 Comments

As there is no Zopa loan statistics site, it is not possible to track the Zopa growth daily. You have to wait for the instances where Zopa announces milestones.

Today Zopa – in an announcement to celebrate it's third birthday, said:

Since we launched in March 2005, £20 million in unsecured personal loans have been arranged at Zopa in the UK. More recently growth has been boosted by the global credit crunch which is driving unprecedented demand for P2P personal loans as banks become less competitive and tighten their lending criteria. All of this has also pushed up returns to Zopa lenders to an all time high.

At the current exchange rate that is approx. 40 million US$.

 

Zopa to launch in Japan

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P2P lending service Zopa – already present in the US, the UK and Italy announced it will launch in Japan.

Zopa Japan will be led by Chairman Takashi Yoneda and Managing Director Tatsuya Kuboi, both highly experienced and distinguished technology-based financial services professionals. Zopa Japan further strengthens Zopa´s position as the leader in its field. Zopa will continue its track record of firsts, as it will be the first social finance offering in Japan.

Takashi Yoneda, Zopa Japan´s Chairman, says: "We are very pleased to be part of the expanding Zopa worldwide operations, and we look forward to offering innovative financial solutions for the Japanese market. We will draw from the Zopa´s experience across the globe and introduce a social lending platform that is tailored for the Japanese culture and regulatory environment

Zopa tomorrow celebrates it's third birthday – it launched in March 2005 in the UK market. 

Other sources: Techcrunch UK

Zopa US launch next week

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According to the Wall Street Journal p2p lending service Zopa will launch in the US next week. Zopa has been established in the UK since 2005. The long announced US start had been postponed several times due to regulation issues.

In the US Zopa will partner with six credit unions. Lenders will benefit since they can be sure to get their principal back – deposits are insured up to $100,000 per member. This is new for p2p lending, where lenders usually carry the default risk (only Dutch p2p lending service Boober.nl guarantees for certain credit grades the bulk of the pricipal via insurance against default.
According to the WSJ article neither lenders nor borrowers will have to pay fees to use Zopa but have to sign up with one of the six participating credit unions.

An article on Netbanker.com already spoke of congestion, since Globefunder and Loanio will launch at a later stage and Prosper, Lending Club and Virgin Money are active in the market.

What's your opinion on this? Post your thoughts in the wiseclerk forum!

Zopa demand figures

wiseclerk

Lenders at Zopa do not (yet) select an individual borrower but rather select a market and a rate at which they want to lend their money. This is matched to borrower demand and if a match is found, money is lend out.

There is a 3rd party site tracking the development of the Zopa demand volume and charting it (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly). Recently the amount requested has gone down in most markets.

 

(Source)

Zopa listings preview

wiseclerk 1 Comment

Tuesday I wrote about Zopa's plans for Zopa listings. Now a preview of how the new Zopa listings will look is available. With this feature Zopa will take the step from anonymous borrowers to a more personal look with borrower listings and profiles. To create a listing borrowers will have a credit grade of at least C.

I looked at the preview today and found the resemblance to Prosper.com layout striking in many points. The listing overview will look like this:

Zopa listings preview

The loan listing itself has photos, a loan details section, a personal profile section and borrower information. Furthermore it will have a Questions and Answers Section allowing the lender to ask questions. Looking at the following example the forecast graph in the upper right looks exactly like the same feature Prosper offers:

Zopa listings

The 8 page preview description gives more example screens of Zopa listings, which Zopa says it will introduce within the next months.

Lender feedback (which is limited so far) has been mixed.

With this changes, should the Prosper & Zopa merger that Jeff & Heather wish (it is really only wishful thinking!) ever happen, then at least the layout question seems decided now.

 

 

Zopa plans to get more personal

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"Prosper on Zopa" – "but better"

That is how the new Sales & Product manager Tanya Cordrey of Zopa described the planned Zopa Listings yesterday in a Zopa Chat. Quote: "It is the ability for borrowers to post listings and it gives lenders the opportunity to lend choose individuals"
Zopa plans to get this feature live next month.

The question about the chance for a secondary market was answered by that there is not enough volume yet (maybe next year). The chat was attended by many Zopa employees including the CEO. The transcript is available.