Nearly 7 months later and the platform is operating on global scale – with branches active in 5 different countries. Now Lendico has announced that it has received loan demands of R3 billion (or $285 million) in the four months since its launch in South Africa. Further announcements from Lendico indicate that it has more than 50,000 registered users globally. The Lendico team has swollen to roughly 150 financial experts spread across two continents.
Lauren Pohl, MD for Lendico South Africa, said:
“We provide a secure and transparent loan marketplace, and offer great deals for both borrowers and lenders with no hidden fees or complicated paperwork. In future, we are confident that we can build on the achievements of the past few months and continue to help customers in South Africa save money in the loan market.”
So what are we to make of this rather unusual update? The yardstick for performance commonly banded around between platforms is cumulative loan originations – and Lendico has been largely mum on that front. Credit inquiries are a fair indicator of consumer interest in a platform, but what we really want to know is to what extent Lendico is transforming that interest into lending.
AltFi got in touch with the ascendant platform – which indicated that approximately 10% of credit enquiries end up as loans listed on the platform due to a strict vetting system. In Germany, nearly every loan listed on the platform is filled. The completion rate is slightly lower in the more youthful global branches. Based on this information, we can estimate that Lendico has accounted for perhaps the equivalent of $20-25m of lending in South Africa. I’m certain we’ll hear much more on the volume front as the platform continues to gain steam.
