Digital bank Zopa is the latest to jump on the buy now, pay later bandwagon, promising "responsible and sustainable BNPL lending to the UK market".
Setting its sights on the UK’s £6 billion BNPL market, Zopa is targeting bigger outlays in the £250-£30,000 region for its new offering.
Tim Waterman, chief commercial officer at Zopa, says: "We combine the seamless customer journeys and best-in-class digital UX offered by traditional BNPL players alongside the ability to underwrite longer, larger loans in a way that fully meets regulatory requirements.”
First announced at Money2020 Europe, Waterman says Zopa will roll-out its BNPL offering using a staggered approach that closely aligns with the Treasury’s ongoing consultation in the UK. The firm intends to run credit and affordability checks against all applications, report debt positions to credit reference agencies and offer proprietary tools to help customers pay down their debt.
Zopa’s first product will offer BNPL retail finance for merchants, deployed through B2BC partnerships. In a second phase, once new regulation comes into place, Zopa will broaden its BNPL toolkit with a consumer offering.
Since getting its banking license Zopa has attracted £1.2 billion in deposits, more than £1.5 billion of loans on balance sheet, issued 300,000 credit cards, and tripled (3x) revenue per customer.