LONDON: Digital lender Zopa Bank Ltd is launching a UK bank account as it tries to compete with the likes of Chase UK, Revolut and Monzo on everyday banking.
Zopa’s Biscuit current accounts will offer cashback on spending and interest rates of more than 7% on regular savings, according to a statement yestersday.
“We would love to be serving more than five million customers in the next three to four years, growing to more than 10 million customers over a five to seven year period,” chief executive officer Jaidev Janardana said in an interview.
He said the bank was targeting deposits of around £1,500 to £2,000 per account.
Zopa, which started as a peer-to-peer lender, gained its UK banking licence in 2020 and now has almost 1.5 million customers across savings and loans.
It’s spent the past year building a team of 90 to test the new current accounts with around 80,000 customers.
The firm is hiring more specialists to tackle financial crime, and is also moving closer to its banking peers later this year with new headquarters in Canary Wharf.
The business counts SoftBank among its investors and retained a US$1bil valuation last year after raising €82mil.
Most Britons use one of the big five banks for their everyday bank account, though startups are encroaching after building a sizable customer base in other services such as money transfers and foreign exchange. — Bloomberg
