UK-based digital bank Zopa has appointed Visa Europe head of data science Jeremy Penzer as chief analytics officer.
Penzer spent about 18 months at Visa after a 15-year career at Capital One. Before that, he had an academic career at the London School of Economics.
At Zopa, he will oversee a team of 80 data scientists, credit decisioning, and valuation experts as the bank prepares to release a raft of new products and services. The lender prides itself on its data-led approach: it uses algorithms built using machine learning to make lending decisions almost instantaneously; 99% of approved loans take less than five seconds for credit approval.
In recent months it has also been testing its flagship current account in beta and a GenAI proposition that promises to bring "humanity and warmth" into everyday banking.
Says Penzer: "Zopa is the only UK neobank successfully lending at scale, meeting all consumer lending and saving needs in one place. I am looking forward to taking Zopa’s data and analytics capabilities to the next level as its steps into everyday banking and enters its next phase of growth”.
Having made its name as a P2P lending pioneer, Zopa pivoted to become a traditional bank in 2021, amassing over 1.4 million customers and attracting £5.5 billion in deposits. With nearly 900 employees, the company recently doubled its physical footprint in London following a move to a new office.