CEO Today UK Awards 2021

81 Company Profile In 2005, we built the first ever peer-to-peer lending company, when our founders saw an opportunity to create a better financial services experience, giving people access to simpler, better-value loans and investments. The model was the first of its kind in the world — directly matching people looking for a low rate loan with investors looking for a higher rate of return. It’s efficient and online which keeps our overheads low and allows us to pass on the rewards to you, our customers, so everyone is better off. Today, our peer-to peer business runs alongside our fully licensed bank, enabling us to help even more people with more products designed to make a real difference. Since 2005 we’ve lent out over £5 billion to almost half a million borrowers and generated over £250 million interest for our investors through our peer-to-peer business. We’ve also helped hundreds of thousands of customers take the stress out of managing their money by building our business on honesty, transparency and trust. It works so well that we wanted to give our customers access to other great products and tools to help themmanage their money, and that’s why we launched our bank. We’re so passionate about doing the right thing for customers that we lobbied hard for more regulation across the peer-to-peer sector, which we achieved in 2014. We then went on to become founding members of Innovate Finance’s 36H Group, which is dedicated to representing lending platforms and our investors, helping to provide a strong, unified voice for our industry. We’re constantly learning and remain flexible to meet our customers’ needs. During the 2008 recession, we built up a reputation for consistency and prudence in a world of uncertainty following the crash. Right now, we’re using this knowledge to help us adapt in a new wave of uncertainty. We’re continually reviewing how we can support our customers and are able to adapt quickly if needed, to provide them with the best solution for their financial situation. In June 2020 we received our full bank licence. Having our banking licence means we can offer people more ways to feel good about money including a credit card that puts you in control of your spending, and Fixed Term Savings that come with FSCS protection, so you can save with Zopa too. 1 Zopa breaks your investment down into small chunks in order to spread your investment across lots of loans. 2 We’ll then get to work, finding the right loans to match your investment with so you’re set up to perform within your projected return range. 3 You’ll get monthly repayments, with interest but minus our borrower servicing fee. You can track your investment performance through your Zopa account. 4 Some loans default, but don’t worry, we already factor this in when calculating your projected returns. 5 By letting us reinvest your repayments as they come in, you can earn interest on interest. How Investing With Zopa Works Design & Manufacturing CEO TODAY UNITED KINGDOM AWARDS 2021