P2P lender Zopa is to offer loans to customers of Saffron Building Society via 11 brick-and-mortar branches and online.
Zopa is looking to correct the imbalance between borrowers and lenders on the platform, which has facilitated over £800m in personal loans to UK consumers in the past 12 months. It recently closed to new lenders after being overwhelmed by people looking for a better return on their liquid assets during a time of historically low interest rates.
Colin Field, CEO of Saffron Building Society, says: “As a member focussed mutual Building Society we are always considering different ways to offer members and customers complementary services that enable them to do more with their money. The partnership with Zopa is an exciting addition to our financial planning product range.”
Last November, Zopa announced plans to launch its own next generation bank offering FSCS-protected deposit accounts for savers, a range of peer-to-peer investment products for investors, and personal loans, car finance, and credit cards for people looking to borrow. It has since raised £32 million in funding to help support the build-out of the company’s technology infrastructure and product range in preparation for the submission of its bank licence application later this year.