Zopa to announce profitability as post-P2P plans emerge
Zopa will announce full profitability in three weeks, after announcing the closure of its peer-to-peer lending platform and focusing on an initial public offering (IPO) in 2022.
In a social media post, Zopa’s communications director Lucas Germanos confirmed that Zopa “is exiting the P2P space to focus on its core banking offering, beginning its journey towards an IPO”.
“We will announce full profitability within three weeks, just 18 months after acquiring a UK banking licence,” Germanos added.
The announcement sheds more light on Zopa’s plans for its business after leaving the P2P market.
In a message to investors, chief executive Jaidev Janardana said that the Zopa Group has decided to fully focus its attention on Zopa Bank.
“Since the launch of Zopa Bank in June of last year we’ve seen strong demand for our new products, such as our award-winning credit card and fixed term savings accounts, which many of our investors have already opened,” Janardana said.
“This early success shows that we’re able to help more people through our fully regulated bank, offering our customers a wider range of financial products.”
Zopa recently raised $300m (£226.4m) in a pre-IPO fundraise, with backing from institutional investors such as SoftBank, IAG Silverstripe, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP, NorthZone and Augmentum Fintech.
Last year, Zopa Group reported broadly flat pre-tax losses of £18.1m for 2019, as increased earnings from its P2P lending platform were offset by heavy investment into its new bank.
Zopa’s P2P platform saw its profits tick up to £575,000 for the year ended 31 December 2019, compared to £145,000 the previous year.