Posted by Lending Club :: February 16, 2008 @ 6:55 am

Do you run UK Zopa as well as US Zopa? You must be racking up the frequent flier miles!

I’m responsible for Zopa worldwide, which now includes operations in the US, UK, Italy and now Asia. I suppose one day the frequent flyer miles will come in handy, but for the time being “vacations” usually mean staying home and relaxing for me!

What's the best part about being CEO of a global business? The worst part?

It’s very satisfying to come up with solutions to help customers in the different cultures with their financial needs. I really enjoy traveling to different countries and interacting with the local populations; I grew up in Northern Europe and Asia, so it’s a little bit like going home. The jetlag can be grueling sometimes....

Zopa. That's an interesting name...I assume it's not the "Zinc Oxide Producers Association." So where did the name come from?

“Zopa” stands for Zone Of Possible Agreement, which is where we help customers find mutually acceptable rates at which they will agree to invest and borrow.

Zopa lenders in the US have the opportunity to help borrowers by subsidizing their interest rates – how has it been turning out now that you have a couple of months of data?

We’ve been thrilled with the customer response - some folks love the safe high return they get on their investments, and some folks have taken a lower rate so that they can help others even more. I think we have really hit a chord with people wanting to help people, but not especially wanting to put their money at risk – and our borrowers love their low interest rates, which get driven even lower by our unique “help” feature.

How’s the relationship going with the credit union participating in the Zopa program? Are you planning to add more partners to the program?

Our credit union partners have been great – in so many ways, credit unions were the first “peer-to-peer” lending operations, because they are communities of people who have gathered deposits and people who need loans – so we’ve found that our goals and objectives are very similar, and that the customers get additional benefits by becoming members of the credit unions. We’ll be adding more credit union partners.

You’ve opened Zopa Italy and US in the last few months. Any hint as to when we should expect to see the next Zopa?

Oh, I think you’ll see us add more countries sometime soon.

We’re running a little contest: what’s your best guess as to when p2p loans will reach $1bn in originations in the US? Pick a date!

It sure feels to me like 2009 is going to be the year.