Zopa looking to £100m fundraise to fully launch banking strategy

The original peer-to-peer lending platform has been planning a bank launch for nearly three years.

Two and a half years ago at the AltFi London Summit 2017, a major point of difference and debate was around, almost in the manner of Hamlet, as to whether ‘to become a bank, or not become a bank. That was, and still is, at least ‘a’ question. 

Zopa, which was very much on the side of launching a bank, is looking to raise £100m or face losing its bank license before a full launch, as first reported by Financial News.

As it was granted a banking license last December, with restrictions, it needs to have raised £100m+ before 3 December to meet regulatory requirements.

A spokeswoman for Zopa said: “We’re confident we will meet the requirements for full bank launch, as laid out by the regulators and we continue to work collaboratively with the FCA and PRA towards lifting our restrictions.”

The firm began testing its banking services this month with closed testing of fixed-rate savings accounts.

Earlier this year Zopa shook up its board ahead of the launch of its bank with the appointment of former Virgin chief executive Gordon McCallun, who took over from its founder Giles Andrews.