Watch the preview of the coming new Zopa TV advert. It will air starting next Monday on channels like Dave, More4, Sky Sports 2 and ITV4. There will be a second version emphasizing how Zopa is different from banks.
Author: wiseclerk
P2P Lending Site Ratesetter Raises another 600k
UK p2p lending service Ratesetter has raised another 600,000 GBP from undisclosed existing and new investors. The total equity funding of the company now is 1.5 million GBP. The additional funding will be used for marketing purposes.
RateSetter co-founder and CEO Rhydian Lewis said: “We’re thrilled that RateSetter has earned the confidence of some well-respected investors. The response to RateSetter has been very positive and has exceeded our expectations. Our users enjoy the benefits of high returns on their savings and low cost, flexible borrowing.â€
P2P-Banking.com wrote an review on Ratesetter when they launched in October 2010 (RateSetter brings rolling monthly loans to p2p lending). Since then the company grew considerably reaching 2 million GBP lent by lenders in the first two month.
If you are a Ratesetter lender or borrower please do share your experiences and opinions. Write a review on Wiseclerk’s Ratesetter forum. Thank you.
joinFITE launched by Kiva and Dermalogica
Announcement by Kiva on joinFITE a new microlending platform to fund woman entrepreneurs:
In partnership with Dermalogica and strategic partners, today Kiva.org is launching joinFITE.org to provide microloans to women entrepreneurs in low-income regions of the United States and 56 other countries.A novel aspect of the campaign is its engagement of retail consumers as microlenders. Dermalogica, for example, will contribute $1 every time a consumer goes to the joinFITE.org Web site and enters a code printed on FITE-themed packaging that the company is using for five of its best-selling products. The resulting micro loan is made available to a designated entrepreneur within hours.“We know the collective impact of consumer action and socially responsible business practices can create sustainable and far-reaching change,” said strategic partner actress Geena Davis. “Together, we can maximize our effort to empower women and girls around the world.”
So what does that mean for p2p microfinance? Kiva has found a way to combine microlending with product placement. A positive viewpoint on this will be that the codes on the products will invite new people to try the concept of microlending. A negative viewpoint might be that the positive image of p2p microlending is used for branding and advertising purposes.
Anyway: this approach could be copied by Kiva (and other p2p microfinance sites) with more partners/products. As long as the selection of partners is very responsible the p2p microfinance site avoids tainting its image.
Related article with some more background at Fastcompany.
P2P Lending Expectations for 2011
I always enjoy speculating what p2p lending developments might happen in the year to come and then look back in in the end to see how I did. I don’t dare call it forecast, because these are just my personal opinions, though in some cases it’s an educated guess based on what I know individual p2p lending services are working on at the moment.
Last year most of my predictions came true to some degree. Maybe they were not speculative enough – this year I’ll insert 1 or 2 developments with higher degree of speculation.
Advent of whitelabel providers (probability 100%)
Okay let’s start this with a safe bet. In 2011 there will be 1-2 companies offering a solution that can be branded and used by p2p lending services and / or p2p microfinance sites. The interesting question here is how the acceptance by potential customers will be. My guess is that it will be slow selling until the companies have set the first pilot customer live.
Introduction of a p2p financed ‘credit card’ (probability very low)
I envision a p2p lending service where the borrower does not get a loan in one full amount initially but can access liquidity on demand (within a predefined credit line). From the funding side this would work somewhat like lenders investing in Ratesetter’s rolling monthly loans. On the borrower side the customer could either request an additional payout via a web-interface or more sophisticated the service could issue a branded credit card / debit card for that purpose, enabling the customer to access cash instantly on an ATM.
This concept has very interesting advantages as it allows the p2p lending service to build a durable relationship to the borrowers. And for the borrowers it offers the potential of lower rates on short term debt than the high rates credit cards typically carry.
Like the idea and want to discuss/develop it further? Self-promotion plug: You can hire me as a consultant.
Continue reading
Review of My P2P Lending Predictions For 2010
In January 2010 I wrote down my predictions for p2p lending trends in 2010. Now let’s see how good my crystal ball was. The black text is my original prediction, with the review added in green and yellow.
More competition and entering more national markets (probability 100%)
This is a fairly easy bet. There are many, especially European markets, where no p2p lending service is operating yet. Even accounting for the fact that laws and regulation in some national markets make it hard or impossible to establish a service, there is still plenty of room. Looking at an individual country, it is much harder to tell. I still wonder that there are no competitors to Zopa in the British market (yet).
As expected this was an easy bet to win. Plenty of new p2p lending companies launched. Zopa got 4 new competitors in the UK (Ratesetter, Fundingcircle, Quakle and Yes-Secure). 3 companies launched in Finland. FairPlace started in Brazil.
More products (probability 100%)
Currently nearly all p2p lending platforms only offer one product: unsecured, fixed term loans. The differences are more in the details of loan funding (bidding, no bidding, markets, listings) but not in the offered product. In 2010 we will see additional products (e.g. secured loans).
Ratesetter introduced rolling monthly loans with variable interest rates. (Note: variable interest rates were one of my predictions for 2008 – I was a bit early on that one). Money360 tries p2p mortgages. CommunityLend might be up to something really interesting with FinanceIt. Some smaller enhancements to the existing product were developed too (e.g. cars as collateral).
A bank will acquire an existing p2p lending service (probability <25%)
While last year’s prediction was that there is the first bank experimenting with p2p lending (and there was), 2010 might see a bank (or other financial institution) buying a running p2p lending service.Buying will be much faster, cheaper and risk-less than if the bank tries to build a new service.
Did not happen. An interesting development was the decision of a Korean Savings Bank to act as a lender on MoneyAuction. Continue reading
P2P Lending Year-End Review 2010
As the end of 2010 approaches here is a selection of main peer-to-peer-lending news and developments covered by P2P-Banking.com:
- January: Focus on Zidisha with an Zidisha review and an interview with Zidisha founder Julia Kurnia; P2P Lending companies Monetto and Bankless Life close
- February: Isepankur introduces B2B Loans
- March: Smava turns 3, merges polish operations into Finansowo; Prosper raises more capital
- April: Moneyauction wins Savings Bank as Lender; Lending Club raises 24.5 million US$ series C round
- May: Auxmoney uses cars as collateral for p2p loans
- August: Guest article: Does P2P Lending work for microfinance?; FundingCircle Launches P2C lending in UK; map of p2p lending sites in Europe; Zopa expects record loan growth
- September: Interview with CEO of new British player Yes-Secure
- October: Ratesetter and Quakle are more newcomers in UK
- November: Kotikonttori family and friends beta launch; Aqush gets Venture Capital; Zopa Rapid Return Secondary Market starts
- December: Money360 is the first site to try p2p real estate loans; Prosper abandons auction model; CommunityLend starts interesting FinanceIt service.
(Photo by paul (dex))