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Wallets/zopa

Zopa

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Overview

Zopa is a UK digital bank operated by Zopa Bank Limited, notable for having launched in 2005 as the world's first peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform before transforming into a fully licensed bank in 2020 [1, 2]. Zopa now offers savings accounts, personal loans, credit cards and a smart-money app, and reported reaching profitability and several million customers. It closed its legacy P2P business in 2021 to focus on the bank.

History

2005 — Zopa founded as the world's first P2P lender [2]: Pioneered marketplace lending, matching individual lenders with borrowers.

June 2020 — UK banking license granted [1, 2]: Zopa received a full banking license and launched savings and credit-card products under Zopa Bank.

2021 — P2P business wound down [2]: Zopa exited peer-to-peer lending to concentrate fully on the bank.

2022-2023 — Profitability + funding [2]: Zopa raised a large round (including SoftBank Vision Fund 2 participation) and reported reaching profitability as a bank.

Ownership & operator

Operating entity: Zopa Bank Limited (UK).

Major investors: SoftBank Vision Fund 2, IAG Silverstripe, Augmentum Fintech and others [2].

Regulators: FCA + PRA (UK); deposits FSCS-protected.

Technical integration

Layer Description
Channels Zopa mobile app (iOS + Android) + Zopa card
Identifiers Email + phone + sort code + account number
UK rails Faster Payments + BACS
Card network Mastercard / Visa (credit card)
Wallets Apple Pay + Google Pay via EMV tokenization
Products Savings, personal loans, credit card, car finance, smart-money tools

Implementations & partners

Operator: Zopa Bank Limited (FCA + PRA-regulated UK bank).

Heritage: World's first P2P lender (2005), converted to bank (2020).

Competitors: [[monzo]], [[starling]], [[atom-bank]], [[tandem-bank]], and incumbent UK lenders/credit-card issuers.

Status

Active [1, 2]:

  • Zopa Bank Limited — full UK banking license since June 2020.
  • Pivoted from world-first P2P lending (2005) to a licensed digital bank; P2P wound down in 2021.
  • Reported profitability; precise current customer counts not consistently disclosed in verifiable form (~).

Sources

Source

Biography extracted from zopa.md. See matrix.md for standards-support matrix if present.

source · docs/wallets/zopa/index.md