Zopa Bank launches current account earlier than expected

Zopa Bank has launched a current account that can be opened in a matter of minutes, and is now available beyond its existing 1.5 million savings and loans customers.

The current account was already used by 60,000 existing Zopa customers in its beta version, and the full launch comes earlier than expected. Last month, Zopa Bank CEO Jaidev Janardana told Computer Weekly the current account would launch in the final quarter of this year.

It comes 20 years after the company pioneered fintech through its peer-to-peer lending business, which it shuttered in 2021, and five years after reinventing itself as a bank.

Following the full launch of the current account, Janardana said: “Stepping into everyday banking is a natural next step in Zopa’s mission to build the Home of Money for its customers.”

It was 2016 when Zopa first announced its plan to become a bank, due to what it described as a loss of trust in the fintech segment and increasing costs.

By December 2018, it had gained a UK banking licence with restrictions and, after receiving a full licence, it launched in 2020 with its first product, a savings account that could be set up in seven minutes.

It already offers personal loans, car financing, credit cards and buy now, pay later products, as well as a variety of savings accounts.

Zopa Bank now has 1.4 million customers and revenue of just over £300m, which grew about 30% last year. Its profit doubled to just under £35m during the same period, and it currently holds over £5bn in deposits.

The new account, known as Biscuit, can be opened in minutes, with virtual cards instantly available.

During a recent interview, Janardana said the existing products alone could give the company a similar “growth trajectory” to last year. “We want to do more with our customers, very specifically day-to-day banking,” he said.

Zopa’s beta current account has been available to existing customers since September 2024.

Tech drives firm

The bank has about 850 staff, mainly based in London, a third of whom are technologists, including engineers and data scientists. It is the company’s tech expertise and adaptability that have enabled it to quickly build a current account offering.

The current account comes at a time when challenger finance firms are beginning to make inroads into the market domination of traditional banks. A current account is a means of building a wider relationship with customers, who have tended to regard challenger banks as a secondary finance provider.

Janardana recently told Computer Weekly that now is just the beginning for challenger banks. “While challenger firms are profitable and growing, we are merely in the early stages from a market share perspective, with [traditional] incumbents holding the majority,” he said.

“There is momentum and scale, and I expect companies that are successful to be able to continue to maintain more than double-digit growth rates for the foreseeable future.”