Zopa returns £50m in interest to UK consumers as it lends £800m
London, 10 April 2015: Peer-to-peer lending platform Zopa has today announced it has returned a
total of over £50m in interest to UK consumers since launch in the same week it also passes £800m
in total lifetime lending.
Zopa has consistently delivered higher returns to consumers since it was set up 10 years ago with
rates averaging 5.6% (after fees and losses from bad debts). Zopa has continually outperformed
rates offered by bank deposit accounts and even the UK housing market between 2005 and 2015i.
Over a third (37%; £18.5m) of that £50m interest has been returned to lenders in the last year alone.
Zopa, which pioneered P2P lending in 2005, expects to reach £1bn in total lending later this summer
with the UK P2P industry set to reach £3bn in total lending by the end of 2015.
Giles Andrews, Zopa’s CEO and co-founder, said: “Delivering on our promise to return our lenders’
money with a total of £50m interest over the past 10 years is a testament to Zopa and P2P lending as
an asset class.”
“This has been made possible because our customers trust us to match their money to the UK’s most
responsible borrowers. Reaching £50m in interest is further proof that Zopa & P2P lending is
becoming a mainstream and trusted way for thousands of consumers to grow their money and get a
better deal by side-stepping the banks.”
The sector is growing at a rapid rate and has the backing of government: the Treasury recently
included P2P lending in the personal savings tax allowance due in April 2016, and is set to confirm
how peer-to-peer lending will sit within ISAs later this summer.
Press contacts:
Ollie Edwards/Hannah Warmington, Brands2Life
[email protected]
0207 592 1200
About Zopa
Zopa is the UK’s largest peer-to-peer lending service in cumulative loans, bypassing banks and their high
charges to put more back into the pockets of the UK’s lenders and borrowers. Zopa matches smart borrowers
looking for lower-rate loans with lenders looking for higher interest. Since Zopa was founded in 2005, it has
arranged more than £800 million in peer-to-peer loans and returned over £50m in interest to its lenders. Zopa
has been voted ‘Most Trusted Personal Loan Provider’ in the Moneywise Customer Service Awards for the past
five years and Consumer Moneyfacts best overall customer service in 2014 and 2015.
i
Based on Nationwide House Price Index between 2005-2015