FinTech50
WONGA
ERROL DAMELIN,
FOUNDER &CEO§
About
Wonga is the first British payday
lender to offer short-term credit
using fully automated risk processing technology. The initial product
was launched in October 2007 and
the firm was also the first to provide
an instant lending application for
unsecured personal loans online via
tablet and mobile applications. Mainstream banks and other lenders were
reportedly dismissive of Wonga’s plan
saying they would not be totally satisfied with customer identity without
physical documentation. But Wonga’s
innovative business model of lending
only to those who could pay back reliably - as opposed to the much wider
practice of payday loans - required an
algorithm that could fully determine
risk in an automated manner and
also get funds directly to customers’
bank accounts as quickly as possible.
As a result Wonga has been disruptive
in the short-term credit industry by
providing transparency, exact control
of amount and payment date, immediate access to funds, and no faxing or
emailing documents.
ZOPA GILES ANDREWS, CO-FOUNDER & CEO
Z
opa is all about rewarding
people who are good with
money and we do this by
having a more efficient online marketplace where over 45,000 savers lend
their money to over 50,000 sensible borrowers. Zopa provides an
inflation-beating alternative to the
poor savings rates offered by banks
and a much lower rate on loans for
borrowers. Zopa was the world’s first
peer-to-peer (P2P) lender launching
in 2005; it has since lent over £430m
and been replicated by numerous
companies globally. Zopa is seeing
200% year on year growth by disrupting the status quo of the UK financial
services industry and will break into
the mainstream during 2014, coinciding with being a regulated and future
ISA-accredited activity. Our business
model is driven by efficiency and
it is this that sets us apart from the
banks by allowing us to deliver better
rates and customer service directly to
consumers.
About
Zopa is the world’s first and UK’s
leading peer-to-peer lending company
– allowing people to bypass the banks
to get a better return on their savings
or a low-cost loan. Zopa matches
sensible borrowers with smart savers
looking for higher interest.
@Zopa @zopagiles
THIRTY-ONE