Hot on the trail of our recent feature in the UsNow film hosted by Nesta, Zopa will again be featuring in a forthcoming event at the Nesta HQ on 21st January 2009.
It’s entitled WeB@nk.
We and other participants in this presentation and discussion will be asking “whether the democratic and social nature of the internet is [...]
Join the discussion
December 22nd, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
Nice noises
December 19th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
The sound of jingling bells is in the air and all of a sudden I’m feeling really rather festive.
This got me thinking about those noises that just make you think of something nice.
For example, I was cycling over some wobbly paving stones last night and the noise they made as they shifted under my bike [...]
Come and see
December 5th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
“In a world in which information is like air, what happens to power?”
That’s the opening gambit for a new film, entitled Us Now, about the power of mass collaboration, government and the internet in which Zopa has featured along with others such as SlicethePie, Ebbsfleet United and Couch Surfing.
The film is directed by Ivo Gormley, [...]
The sound of twittering
December 4th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
It can be hard to get people to talk about their financial affairs, so I really didn’t expect quite so much noise when I rummaged around Twitter recently.
Loads of people seem to be nattering about us - come and join in too to follow our regular updates.
Even better, I found a member who’s not only [...]
Zopa on the Beeb
November 13th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
I had to make yet another ‘Hello Mum!’ sign this week as the Beeb were filming at our office for a feature aired in today’s ‘Working Lunch’ on BBC 2.
When Briony joined our Operations team a few weeks ago, she had no idea it would lead to stardom of being ‘The Y Market’ on telly!
See [...]
Have you checked yours?
November 12th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
Thanks to all the recent attention that sub-prime lending has had, people the world over have become increasingly aware of and interested in their own personal credit scores.
Technically, you own your own data, but historically, it’s often been handled in a rather cloak and dagger manner.
In general, if you pay all your bills on time [...]
From the horse’s mouth
November 4th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
Not that I’m calling Giles a horse, you understand!
We had the people from Finextra in the other day to find out more on how this here credit crunch is treating Zopa.
See the interview with Giles here who answers questions across a range of topics…
In memory of our co-founder, Richard
October 16th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
Richard Duvall, co-founder and CEO of Zopa died two years ago today from pancreatic cancer.
I wasn’t lucky enough to have met him personally, but his impact on anyone who did is clear as they all talk with huge enthusiasm and animation. He was clearly a huge inspiration.
Pancreatic cancer is a silent killer affecting 7,200 people [...]
Zopa blog 2008-10-15 11:35:37
October 15th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
Well, quite!
Zopa U.S.
October 9th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
You oprobably know that Zopa’s US operation has a very different model to that in the UK and Italy in that it works in partnership with financial institutions (the credit unions) rather than being a pure peer to peer marketplace as it is here and in Italy.
So while our model is doing very well in [...]
- Zopa Shuts Down US Branch Zopa, the UK based peer to peer lending company, is shutting down their US branch due as a result of toughening conditions that are currently being experienced by the US economy. Zopa provides loan services in the UK, as well as in Italy and Japan through a pure P2P style......
Wanna sneak peak of our office?
October 8th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
It was a busy day yesterday! As well as that award ceremony, we had CNN in our office making a film about online banking alternatives, so there was much frenzied ‘doing’ of hair and make up and making of ‘Hello Mum!’ signs.
Check it out here. Catch a glimpse of Pedro’s right hand, Ed biting his [...]
You can’t win them all
October 8th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
Giles and I got our posh togs on yesterday evening because Zopa had been nominated for Brand Innovator of the Year at this year’s Marketing Week Effectiveness Awards.
Sadly, we didn’t actually get to add to our trophy cabinet as that pesky James Dyson won it with his new airblade hand dryer. Shucks!
Having said that, we [...]
Global Giving
October 6th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
We’d like to let you know about a new charity that’s just launched.
Global Giving connects donors to more than 500 grass roots charity projects around the world. So instead of paying for snazzy offices and flyers, you can be sure that your money is going straight to the heart of the charity you choose.
Check it [...]
100 percent capital reserves
October 2nd, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
We spotted an interesting blog here the other day.
The FSA themselves have suggested as recently as this week that they would consider interviewing future senior directors of financial institutions in order to establish that they actually undertsand the complex products that their business would trade in. Wouldn’t we all like to?!?
I don’t know about you, [...]
More on our members
September 30th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
It’s always nice to hear about other members in the Zopa community. One of our first borrowers was ‘matchsticks’ who has used Zopa loans to kick start her recruitment business and all seems to be going very well - congratulations!
But Emma also began blogging a while back, so we thought we’d share it with you.
See [...]
An intro
September 22nd, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
I’m safely back from my hols - we covered 2,300 miles and I can confirm that the car is great for cruising down motorways, twisting and turning up and down mountain roads, and also for snoozing in!
Anyhoo, a while back I promised to introduce you to some of our bright and shiny new Young Market [...]
Thanks to my Zopa lenders
September 16th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
A few months ago, I took a Zopa loan so that my husband and I could buy a car with a bit of welly.
Well, we’re currently in our 6th European country on something of a road tripping holiday, and it’s been quite a tour. The day before yesterday we breakfasted in Chianti, lunched in Siena [...]
Slice of pie chart anyone?
September 4th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
A few weeks ago, we went survey-crazy and asked almost every single one of our members to ’sock it to us’. Well, when you ask, you get, and I’ve been swimming in pie charts ever since! Fancy a slice?
We learned that borrowers very rarely talk to one another, but that those borrowers who didn’t complete [...]
Another benchmark or two
September 2nd, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
Not so long ago we were making a big fuss about welcoming our 200,000th member to our community and now we can add a couple more notches to our list:
Last month was Zopa UK’s best ever for loan disbursals and while we were at it, we carried Zopa’s total value of loans past the £25 [...]
Zopa Ambassadors arrive!
September 1st, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
We’re dead chuffed to announce that we’ve recruited a small group of Zopa Ambassadors to our discussion forum to help out any new borrowers who have questions before, during or after their application for a loan.
These Ambassadors are real Zopa borrowers who’ll be able to speak from experience when answering these questions, and of course [...]
Apples and apples?
August 28th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
An interesting article recently published in the Independent reveals some of the workings of the now ubiquitous comparison websites.
There’s no doubt that they certainly do provide a service much needed to save us time and from sheer boredom in repeating the same details to each and every provider…yawn!
But the issue that David Prosser raises about [...]
A tsunami
August 21st, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
On the back of my last post, we were double pleased with how things were going, but it seems that was nothing!
Last Friday saw a veritable tsunami of loan applications coming into Zopa. We had more than twice our usual daily traffic paying us a visit and three times the normal volume of loan applications. [...]
Busy and loving it
August 14th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
Crumbs and crikey! We’ve just had a couple of seriously busy weeks, hitting all time greatest numbers of applications and loan disbursals. AND our listings are more popular than ever, scrolling over two pages - it’s now a tricky business keeping track of who is who!
Speculation as to what’s causing this huge uptick lands firmly [...]
The long tail…
August 8th, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
Simon used to be a fellow Zopite and recently published this interesting article.
He discusses the role that social networking has to play in allowing consumers to react to macro-economics by using more innovative and niche financial services that might otherwise occupy ‘the long tail’ of products on offer.
It’s a well-timed piece from our point of [...]
Bit of a catch up
July 31st, 2008 — , General from Savaroony @ Zopa blog
An even more belated blog this time… we’re very naughty we know, but we haven’t ‘alf been busy.
So loads to update you on:
We welcomed our 200,000th member a few weeks ago, so where we were once ‘Bigger than Basildon’ we’re more like Brighton now. I’m hunting for my bucket and spade…
In looking back, there seems [...]
