Zopa exec “very excited” about embedded finance for lenders
Zopa’s chief commercial officer Tim Waterman has said that he is “very excited” about the potential benefits of embedded finance for the lending industry.
Embedded finance means integrating a financial service or technology with a traditionally non-financial service, product, or technology.
Speaking at LendIt Fintech Europe’s Lending Innovation Summit, Waterman said embedded finance can give lenders the ability to tap into someone else’s brand for distribution.
Peer-to-peer consumer lender Zopa does not currently provide any forms of embedded finance.
Read more: Zopa Group posts £18.1m loss as bank spend offsets P2P profit rise
“Embedded finance will be different for consumers because it brings the value that fintech offers in the masses,” he said.
“We’re struggling to break the stranglehold that retail banks have on their existing customers and part of that is about achieving distribution.
“What we saw with the emergence of supermarkets and having everything in place, consumers get a great value proposition that’s easy to use and we have this ability to tap into someone else’s brand for distribution, there’s commercial upside for them and consumers benefit as well.
“It’s something we’re very excited about.”
Read more: Zopa pauses new IFISA account openings
While Zopa has not yet dipped its toe into the world of embedded finance, it has been expanding its offering into new areas.
The P2P platform has set up a digital bank and in January, it launched an energy switching and comparison service on its app.
It has partnered with Decision Tech, part of the MoneySuperMarket Group, to show customers available energy suppliers alongside how much money they could save by switching.