Less that two years after the first P2P launched in the U.S., it looks like we'll soon have at least five companies chasing this new market, six if you include Virgin Money.

The most well known is Zopa, the person-to-person lending pioneer which opened in the UK in 2005 and now has nearly 200,000 members. Its long-awaited U.S. launch is scheduled for next week. I'll be speaking with marketing director Wade Lagrone tomorrow, but Jane Kim broke the news in today's Wall Street Journal (here). The market forecast in the article, predicting as much as $9 billion in P2P originations by 2017, is from our upcoming Online Banking Report on P2P lending (note 1). 

Zopa is working with six credit unions, including FORUM Credit Union, to match lenders with borrowers. And unlike other P2P lenders, Zopa's is guaranteeing the lender's principal. That will reduce potential returns, but make participation more like buying a CD from a bank. So, it will be interesting to see how the company differentiates its offering from traditional bank/credit union fare. We'll have more when the site opens to the public next week.

We also hear that GlobeFunder and Loanio are about to launch, possibly yet this year. Loanio has not revealed its strategy, but GlobeFunder is positioning itself as a microlender in the same vein as the Nobel prize-winning approach of Grameen Bank. For more info, read the GlobeFunder blog.  

All three will be included in our upcoming Online Banking Report (note 1). We'll also look at Prosper, Lending Club, LoanBack, and Virgin Money (formerly Circle Lending).

Note:

1. Online Banking Report subscribers will have access to the report as soon as it is published on Dec. 8. Nonsubscribers can put their name on the announcement list here and receive a prepublication discount code to save 10%. Please mention "P2P report" in the subject line.