Category: Social Lending

Open Source Banking, Social Lending7 Comments

Zopa is not a Social Lender, and why that matters

Colin Henderson

Back in June, Zopa was voted “Best Internet Project” by The Banker Technology Awards, 2007 and I posted about it here.  I was a little sceptical at the time, of the award being judged by people such as the CEO of Lloyds, HSBC, and CitiBank, and this quote: The judges particularly liked the fact that with just 25 staff it wasable to provide a seamless customer experience. Using a discussionboard and a blog it is able to listen and learn from its members,providing an innovative and more efficient marketing model. [emphasis mine] So, for other reasons, i was doing a … Continue reading Zopa is not a Social Lender, and why that matters

Social Lending

FaceBooks Lendingclub surpasses $100K loans in first two weeks

Colin Henderson

Hardly earth shattering numbers, but not bad for two weeks, and the pattern over the next few weeks suggests exponential growth. Lending Club was an original Facebook Platform/ F8 partner having launched with F8 on May 24. The company closed its first loan on June 6, and has since closed 27 more loans for a total of $101,250. An additional $212,650 in loans will close in the next 12 days. More than $180,000 is currently available from 271 lenders with around 10-15 new lenders transferring money to Lending Club every day. Source: Techcrunch Technorati tags: Social Lending Continue reading FaceBooks Lendingclub surpasses $100K loans in first two weeks

Social Lending

Prosper raises another $20 million

Colin Henderson

TechCrunch reports Prosper has raised another $20 million, bring total raised so far to $40 million. At time of writing this information has not made it to the Prosper site, so purpose of the funding is not clear, but I would speculate it is related to development to expand their model in ways that will enhance competitiveness with Zopa and others in the US. Technorati tags: Social Lending Continue reading Prosper raises another $20 million

Social Lending4 Comments

Social Lending voted as the future of finance by the banking industry

Colin Henderson

I have been a bit tardy in reporting this from the other day, but looking at it more carefully, it is a big deal. Zopa, the online lending and borrowing marketplace where people cut out the banks, has won The Banker Technology Award for 2007 for the Best Internet Project… Beating off intense competition, Zopa wowed the judging panel – which included banking luminaries such as the CEOs of Lloyds TSB and HSBC and the Head of Citibank – with its technology and approach to personal lending and borrowing. Source: FirstRung Points of note: – the judges are traditional bankers … Continue reading Social Lending voted as the future of finance by the banking industry

Social Lending3 Comments

NetBanker | Report on Social Personal Finance

Colin Henderson

Social networks, and evolution of internet into a social media platform presents a big challenge to Banks because the elements of social media are the antithesis of traditional Banking, which is based in secrecy and confidentiality. This pervades Bank culture, which makes it hard to come to terms with how to lever the positive changes that are happening, and to ensure they, the Banks, remain relevant. This report does a great job in a couple of areas. 1. It lays out in practical terms the current state of Social Personal Finance, with tons of examples 2. It describes various tactics … Continue reading NetBanker | Report on Social Personal Finance

Social Lending

Netbanker report on Social Personal Finance

Colin Henderson

Jim produces in typical form, a highly detailed and researched report. I need to spend at least a day studying this report, but I wanted to highlight it to readers meantime. This report looks at how social finance networks may evolve and how they compare to typical financial institutions today. We also recommendations on the more pressing need: how to incorporate social finance features into your own Web-based delivery. Finally, we analyze the key startups in the space: Wesabe, Buxfer, and several others. ….. That level of usage is astounding. It’s more than the combined total of eBay, Amazon, Google, … Continue reading Netbanker report on Social Personal Finance

Social Lending14 Comments

Social lending goes red hot, as FaceBook enters the space with “LendingClub”

Colin Henderson

After last weeks entre into the space by Virgin, now FaceBook get into the game. Hat tip – Wiseclerk What’s this all about? By working together, Lending Club members can borrow money at a better rate than they could from a bank, or invest in a pool of loans that carry higher rates than savings accounts. Loans have a 3-year duration. It seems to operate on a similar method to Zopa, where the risk assessment is taken on by LendingClub. How It Works It’s simple. Borrowers apply online and get instant qualification. Their loan applications get listed and selected by … Continue reading Social lending goes red hot, as FaceBook enters the space with “LendingClub”

Social Lending, Social networks

Chaos, control and balance – much work still to do

Colin Henderson

 During the last two days, two bloggers I respect have posted on the overwhelming nature of social tools. First Scoble (California, US) … …  begged me to join Facebook. I still haven’t, cause I need fewer things in my life, not more. Twitter dramatically took down my productivity (I’ve been spending less time there trying to get things done) and until I have no emails in my inbox I can’t join new things. But I can stand back and admit my awe of what they’ve done in the marketplace. Source:  Whats next – Facebook vs Linkedin Then Laurent (Geneva, Switzerland) reflecting … Continue reading Chaos, control and balance – much work still to do