Zopa lends £250m in a year as peer-to-peer industry booms

The strength of the UK’s booming alternative finance industry was underlined today as peer-to-peer lender Zopa revealed it has lent a quarter of a billion pounds in just the last 12 months.

Zopa, which lets savers lend out money to individuals, today revealed that £250 million has been lent on its platform in just the last year, with £27 million leant on the platform in October alone.

It follows news last month that Funding Circle, which offers a similar peer-to-peer service for business loans, enjoyed its best ever month in September, with £28.6 million handed to businesses.

Zopa’s chief executive Giles Andrews said: “Zopa has lent more in the last year than we had lent in seven years of lending [2005-2012].”

To date £657 million has been lent over the Zopa platform.

Andrews added: “The industry growth we’re seeing really goes to show that P2P lending is fast becoming a mainstream activity.”

Peer-to-peer lending is seen as one of the most promising areas of financial innovation and has been embraced by both politicians and consumers. Last month the Government announced plans to include peer-to-peer loans in ISAs, with the Treasury’s David Gauke calling the P2P lending industry “exciting [and] innovative”.

The FCA last week also launched an Innovation Hub, aiming to help regulation keep pace with new ideas.