UK neobank Zopa is trialling a new hybrid working model that will allow employees to work from abroad for up to 90 days a year.
Zopa's move follows similar initiatives from fintechs GoCardless and Revolut, each of which have introduced an overseas working policy.
The neobank which has around 450 staff, will test the model over the coming year, enabling staff to choose where they work, while also adapting its office space for a more collaborative working environment.
In a year where staff have worked predominantly at home, Zopa has obtained its full bank licence, launched a successful savings account and credit card, surpassed £6bn lent out in loans and increased its customer base by 27%.
Zopa’s chief customer officer, Clare Gambardella says: “Zopa as a business has been able to achieve a huge amount in the last year while our teams were working from home. However, we are aware that the pandemic environment isn't representative of a sustainable ongoing model for us or our people. By testing and learning with our employees throughout 2021, we can understand how a distributed working model functions in the longer term and what the differing preferences are for the people throughout our business.”