Australian P2P lender SocietyOne’s new CEO Jason Yetton disclosed some growth figures this week. The company told the Sydney Morning Herald that it has arranged $38 million ($50 million AUD) in personal loans on its platform so far this year.

This number is almost double the nearly $20 million the company facilitated in the latter half of 2015, and it is 10x the $3.8 million from the same period in 2015. As a result of this growth, the company’s portfolio of outstanding personal loans totals $76 million, which represents 0.5% of Australia’s $15 billion personal loans market.

In his interview with the Herald, Yetton said, “We readily admit that our current lending volume is still a small sum in the context of a $20 billion ($15 billion USD) personal loan market, which itself is one fifth of the overall consumer finance market in Australia.” He added that his point is that “we now have a solid base from which we can grow and meet our ambitious target of taking a 2% to 3% share of that $100 billion market by 2020 to 2021.”

SocietyOne’s returns average 10% for institutional and sophisticated investors. Since the company was founded in 2011, SocietyOne has lent an average of $15,000 to its borrower base of 5,000. Yetton, who took the reins as new CEO in March, plans to distribute loans to a “much wider range of borrowers.”

At FinovateAsia 2012, SocietyOne launched ClearMatch, a feature that allows investors to bid together at different interest rates and amounts against a single loan. Finovate returns to Asia this year: Hong Kong on November 8. The application deadline is fast approaching, so act soon to secure your spot on the FinovateAsia stage.

Australia-based P2P lender SocietyOne is entering the second quarter of 2016 with a new CEO, a new CFO, and a major new milestone under its belt.

Jason Yetton, former executive at Westpac Group, is the company’s new CEO. Yetton takes the reins from SocietyOne co-founder Matt Symons, who will stay on as Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer. Yetton pointed out that the company was at an important point in its growth and that he was looking forward to being a part it. “The opportunities offered by marketplace lending in Australia for consumers and investors through innovation and greater competition are significant,” Yetton said.

Symons added that Yetton’s arrival marked a “significant milestone” in SocietyOne’s development. Calling Yetton a “game-changer who is passionate about innovation and technology,” Symons praised the new CEO’s “unique combination of skills and expertise … through his time in funds management and wealth management.” Yetton spent more than six years in executive positions at Westpac and over nine years at BT Financial Group. He has degrees from UNSA Australia, Securities Institute of Australia, and Harvard Business School.

Yetton is not the only C-level arrival to SocietyOne this spring. Also joining the company in March was Anna Harper, who will serve as SocietyOne’s new Chief Financial Officer. Harper was formerly group financial controller for Virtus Health, among the largest assisted reproductive services providers in Australia, and her hiring was called a “coup” by the company’s new CEO. “(It) just underlines how far we have come and how we are viewed by the rest of corporate Australia as the company that is really shaking up the financial services industry,” Yetton said.

Previous to Virtus, Harper worked with Rabobank Australia, JP Morgan Chase, and the accounting firm, Crowe Horwath, where she was senior auditor. She is a graduate of University of Technology in Sydney, and of AGSM at the University of New South Wales. Speaking of her new role, Harper said that her experience working with “dynamic” companies made her excited about joining SocietyOne. “I jumped at the chance to be a part of the team shaking up the banking sector and making a real difference to the lives of our customers,” she said.

Pictured (left to right): SocietyOne co-founders Greg Symons and Matt Symons demonstrated their P2P lending platform at FinovateAsia 2012.

The big changes in the executive suites reflected big moves in the business, as SocietyOne also announced in March that its loan book has surpassed $100 million. Yetton called it a “stunning achievement by a company that didn’t exist five years ago and only started writing loans in August 2012.”

SocietyOne credited Q1 loan-growth of $30 million for helping push the company past the $100 million milestone. And the company says that since January 2013, investors have earned an effective greater-than 8.5% annualized rate of return. Yetton credited SocietyOne’s “world-class technology platform (ClearMatch), credit and risk disciplines and customer service” for his company’s ability to provide “the best outcomes for borrowers and investors.”

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Sydney, Australia, SocietyOne demonstrated its ClearMatch platform for P2P lenders at FinovateAsia 2012 in Singapore.

Australia-based P2P lender SocietyOne announced it has appointed Jason Yetton, former senior executive at Westpac, as its new CEO.

Prior to his position at Westpac, he played a variety of roles at BT Financial Group. Yetton, a graduate of Harvard Business School’s General Manager program, was recently selected as a member of the federal government’s fintech advisory group.

Yetton will begin in his new role on Monday. SocietyOne’s current CEO & co-founder Matt Symons will assume a new role as chief strategy and innovation officer.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Yetton will face a number of challenges in his new role:

• Building awareness of P2P lending (a concept that has been slow to take root in Australia) and ramping up marketing to promote the SocietyOne brand as a leader in the space.
• Adding retail investors to the SocietyOne platform
• Preparing the company for a potential IPO

Since launching in 2012, SocietyOne has matched more than $78 million in loans. This week alone, the startup originated a record $8.7 million in loans. According to The Australian Business Review, The company has secured 2% to 3% of the nation’s $100 billion unsecured lending market.

SocietyOne launched ClearMatch at FinovateAsia 2012 in Singapore. ClearMatch connects borrowers with lenders by allowing investors to bid at different interest rates on a single loan. This minimizes data entry for the borrower while broadening the reach of investor portfolios.

Australia-based P2P lending platform SocietyOne today announced it is partnering with Uber to offer its drivers car loans. This comes at a time of high growth for Uber Australia which has seen its UberX platform grow from 0 to 20,000 drivers in the past 18 months.

Uber, which operates in nine cities across Australia and New Zealand, requires drivers to have a car no older than 10 years. However, some drivers have difficulty obtaining a traditional loan because ride-sharing jobs may be perceived as unstable.

SocietyOne charges drivers an upfront fee of $250 to take out a car loan, which ranges from $5,000 to $35,000 at an interest rate of 6.5% to 12.6% which is competitive with rates from traditional banks.

Launched in 2011, the company now employs 75 in Australia and New Zealand and has extended $60 million in personal loans this year. It is experiencing 10% growth in loan originations month-over-month.

SocietyOne debuted its ClearMatch technology at FinovateAsia 2012 in Singapore.