Zopa

Zopa teamed up with credit reporting agency and fellow Finovate alum Equifax to improve the way Zopa determines the creditworthiness of potential borrowers. According to Zopa CEO Jaidev Janardana:

Equifax has extensive experience of the P2P sector. Its in-depth understanding of our business needs, coupled with the strength of its data, plays a vital role in ensuring we offer the best customer experience possible.

Of all the innovative methods for risk profiling—from big data to social media—the information available from credit reference agencies like Equifax remains as critical for online lenders as it is for offline lenders. And while Zopa and Equifax have been working together since 2005, Janardana says that the new agreement gives Zopa “deeper insights into customer behavior” and should result in a better-performing loan portfolio for Zopa, along with better rates for many customers.

Craig Tebbutt, head of alternative lending at Equifax, praised Zopa’s role in helping drive P2P lending in the United Kingdom. Tebbutt suggested that 2016 would be a “key year” for Zopa, pointing to the rise in institutional funding and the arrival of the Innovative Finance Individual Savings Accounts (IFISA) in early April. Investors will be able to set up IFISA accounts through P2P lenders like Zopa and earn tax-free interest from lending portions of their savings to SMEs on the platform.

Facts and stats from Zopa:

• Over £1 billion lent to U.K. customers
• More than 50,000 active lenders
• More than 150,000 borrowers
• Most loans exceed £7,000
• Staff of 150

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in San Francisco, Zopa demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring 2008. Making its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2011 in New York, Equifax demonstrated Equifax Complete, its interactive score-estimator and score-monitoring solution.

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