Zopa at 15 🎈
Looking back to 2005, our latest analysis demonstrates the strength of our investments
This March, we’re celebrating 15 years of Zopa. That’s fifteen years of online lending and giving customers access to simple, fair investment products.
Over this time, we’ve provided UK consumers with a stable, viable alternative investment. So to mark our milestone birthday, we’ve carried out analysis to highlight how much interest our investors could’ve gained with us from the very beginning.
A person investing £1,000 in Zopa back in 2005 could have earnt over £1,000 in interest by 2020, more than doubling their money over a 15-year period. With our blended return rate* over that time at 4.9%, an investor could have grown their money to £2,090 today.
The blended return rate* of 4.9% includes our average return rates through the financial crisis and takes into account compounding interest, but does not include additional money invested by the person into their account.
This analysis highlights the attractiveness of a Zopa investment and the personal loan asset class that we’ve built that helps our investors get the most from their money.
We’re also proud to announce that we’ve now returned over £350 million in gross interest to investors.
Natasha Wear, Zopa’s P2P CEO, said: “15 years ago, Zopa created the peer-to-peer lending model, focusing specifically on personal loans as an asset class. Offering investors a unique balance of risk and reward, tens of thousands of people have enjoyed a stable, reliable and attractive return on their investments. We firmly believe that our asset class, approach to risk management, and lending expertise, gives us a distinct advantage over both mainstream and alternative investment options.”
The £350 million in gross interest includes earnings of £158 million generated for retail investors and £193 million for institutional investors who lend through the platform.
Zopa offers customers two investments, Core and Plus. Investors can expect projected return ranges of up to 5% and 6% respectively, and both come as tax-free Innovative Finance ISA options.
When you invest your money with Zopa, your capital is at risk.
Check out the full breakdown of our analysis below.
Starting with £1,000 in March 2005
Time
Average return rate
£ Returns
Starting with £1,000 in March 2005
|Time|Average return rate|£ Returns| |--- |--- |--- | |2005 year end|4.95%|£1,049.45| |2006|3.90%|£1,090.35| |2007|5.01%|£1,144.99| |2008|5.72%|£1,210.48| |2009|4.66%|£1,266.89| |2010|6.32%|£1,346.96| |2011|5.95%|£1,427.10| |2012|5.73%|£1,508.88| |2013|5.38%|£1,590.05| |2014|4.75%|£1,665.58| |2015|4.72%|£1,744.20| |2016|4.99%|£1,831.23| |2017|4.48%|£1,913.27| |2018|4.09%|£1,991.52| |2019|3.83%|£2,067.80| |2020 YTD|4%|£2,088.48**|
*Blended Zopa return based on the entire book – individual investors returns could vary based on product invested, individual matching, etc.
**Pro-rated for Q1 2020
