Once a top UK peer-to-peer lender and today a digital bank, Zopa Bank has announced its first full year of profitability.
Zopa announced a pre-tax profit of £15.8 million for the financial year ending 31 December 2023, up from a pre-tax loss of £26 million for the year ending 31 December 2022.
Total operating income increased by 47.8% to £222 million.
Customers using the digital bank’s services are now over one million and the deposits rose by 14.9% to £3.4 billion.
Loans on the balance sheet were said to have increased 27.3% to £2.7 billion.
The bank stated that it is now setting its sights on the UK current account market as well as future acquisitions.
Zopa CEO Jaidev Janardana commented on the results:
“2023 was a landmark year as we achieved our first full year of profitability, grew to over a million customers, and maintained our market leading net promoter score. Across all our products, the opportunity is huge and we remain passionate about changing customers’ relationship with money for the better. We are uniquely placed to achieve this due to our customer-centric culture, lending expertise, and use of technology and data. Together, these capabilities create an exceptional experience to help customers reach their financial goals.”
The firm concluded:
“Since we launched as a fully operational bank three years ago, we’ve come a long way in our mission to become Britain’s best bank. But our journey is only just beginning. Across all our products, the opportunity is huge. In 2024, we’ll focus on adding more features and capabilities to our existing products and continue to build the Zopa account that offers ease and great value, all in one place. We’ll also remain focused on efficiency through the launch of new artificial intelligence tools to fuel our productivity.”
Zopa predicted that in 2024 they will add new features and functionality leaning on AI.
One unanswered question is when Zopa will become a public firm. It has been speculated for years and discussed openly by the bank its intent to float its shares.
In 2023, Zopa completed two £75 million funding rounds.
