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Zopa shows banks how to do it right | Technology | The Guardian
It has just dawned on me that one of the places I have deposited part of my modest savings, the lending site Zopa , doesn't have a government-backed guarantee - unlike high street banks and credit unions. Yet the curious thing is that, despite all that and the global credit crunch , Zopa is enjoying a boom. In the third quarter new borrowers soared by nearly 50% to 3,700 compared with the previous quarter. Why is this happening - and is it safe? I joined Zopa, a UK startup, almost exactly three years ago because it was different, providing an online alternative to banks and their dreaded call centres.
If the early internet was all about cutting out the guys in the middle, then how come it has taken a decade for anyone to take on the biggest middlemen of them all - the banks? They make billions by raising money from you and lending on to the likes of me, taking a hefty cut in the process. The idea of an online alternative is obvious as soon as you think about it. But it is only now that a new company - based in London not Silicon Valley - has decided to take on the biggest oligopoly in the world, the banks.
Peer pressure | Business | guardian.co.uk
