Interview with Doug Dolton, CEO of Zopa, the social lending company with offices in UK, US, Italy, and Japan. He has some interesting thoughts, and bullish views on the scale that social finance will achieve over time. Social Networking Watch: Zopa, CEO Douglas H. Dolton – SNW Interview What is your long term vision? Where could you see Zopa and the industry being in 10 years time? I honesty think that the efficiency, convenience and trust that you get with dealing with an entity like Zopa will become more and more attractive to people. I can see this will be … Continue reading Zopa, CEO Douglas H. Dolton – SNW Interview

With that lengthy statement, we now see how Lending Club intend to operate their business as defined in their SEC S-1 filing today. Some more detail here. sv1 Lending Club S-1 filing The proceeds we receive from the sale of each series of Notes will be designated by the lender members who purchased the Notes of that series to fund an unsecured consumer loan originated through our platform to an individual consumer who is one of our borrower members.… … A series of Notes will be issued only if and when the corresponding member loan closes and is funded. A … Continue reading “The proceeds we receive from the sale of each series of Notes will be designated by the lender members who purchased the Notes of that series to fund an unsecured consumer loan” | Lending Club

Microfinance, small loans in impoverished areas is becoming business that is interesting the large Banks. The Big Trouble In Small Loans – TIME And he’s getting more of them, from directions he never could have anticipated. Last year the Spanish multinational BBVA raised some $300 million to invest in microfinance, then reached across the Atlantic to snap up two Peruvian firms. “Everyone wants to do this now,” says Llosa. “And it’s not only Peru. This change is everywhere. Everywhere microfinance is working, it’s happening.” Continue reading the pinstripes are chasing the poor | TIME

Shameless plug: Its been a long haul, but we are making progress, and this week launched our blog at CommunityLend. /Shameless plug As we evolve the conversation, I want to get beyond what happens here at Bankwatch, which is Bank oriented, and focus on p2p Lending in Canada, and around the world from a consumer perspective. What do consumers want and expect in their financial services? How do consumers see the balance between themselves and financial services changing? Thoughts and comments welcome. CommunityLend blog Beginning the conversation about p2p Lending in Canada Continue reading Beginning the conversation about p2p Lending in Canada

William is doing a good job at taking the discussion forward on the Social Economy. I have wavered myself on whether it is an economy or whether social is rather a new factor in the (online) economy. FORUM Solutions Discovering the Social Economy I tend to define the social economy a little more broadly: as that increasing part of our society’s economic decision-making that is influenced by emerging social tools. The water cooler is now global, and people can influence each other’s spending habits and brand preferences more effectively and instantly. The Social Futures Observatory have an extensive paper on … Continue reading The role of social in the economy