... but wait, we're not a bank!  I demand a new category to be created: Best Disruptive/Paradigm Shifting Web Concept. Yes?

On Monday night, Lending Club was awarded the top web honors in the Banking / Bill Paying category at the 15th Annual Webby Awards in New York City. Other nominees in this category were JPMorgan Chase, US Bank, Kashoo and Billeo.

The Webby Awards, hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" by The New York Times, are given annually to the best of the web in a variety of categories. Over 10,000 entries were received from 60 countries to gain recognition for websites, interactive advertising & media, online film and video, and mobile & apps. This is the second time Lending Club has been awarded a Webby, originally receiving the award in 2008. This year Lending Club joins big-name winners including Groupon, Mint, Zillow, Pandora, National Geographic, Angry Birds and Dropbox and celebrity sites from Conan O’Brien, Zach Galifianakis and Snoop Dogg.

The best moments of the ceremony award were when Antoine Dodson joined the Gregory Brothers to perform their viral hit live and when Peter Vesterbacka of Angry Birds accepted The Webby Award for Best Mobile Games - Handheld.

As customary, we were asked to deliver a 5-word acceptance speech when receiving the award.  Check it out:

CONTEST: Tell us your alternative 5-word Webby acceptance speech for Lending Club and WIN!

Oh, and to celebrate our win, we will be giving away 5 stainless steel laser-engraved Zippo money clips to the most creative alternative 5-word speech.  Think: "if I had to receive the webby award for Lending Club, what would my 5 words have been?".  Drop us a comment on our Facebook page to participate. Winners to be announced on Friday June 17 around 4pm on our Facebook page.

Many banks have gotten too big to fail (and gotten even bigger recently), but have they also become too big to...innovate? It's clear that big banks have lost their innovative edge. Frustrated customers are walking away from banks, but this seems to not have sparked creativity from their upper management. Luckily for consumers, there is a new wave of financial services innovators pushing the limits. Incorporating cutting edge technology, social media and -- believe it or not -- genuine customer service, this new group of financial players are giving traditional banks a run for their money. The Banks: Innovate or Die! panel will discuss why big banks are failing with today's Web 2.0 consumers, and will examine the new players in the space who are stealing customers away due to their innovation.

Panel Details:

When? Saturday March 12 at 11:00am
Where? Hilton F/G
Who? Brett King (Author, Bank 2.0), Bob Weinschenk (CEO SmartyPig), Joshua Reich (CEO BankSimple), Anna O'Brien (Former VP of Social Media at CITI) and Rob Garcia (VP Product, Lending Club)

Read more about what the panel will cover: Innovative Startups Taking over Banks

Want more? Check out these other financial innovation panels at SXSW Interactive.

@RobGarciaSJ

This is your guide to SXSW Interactive's financial innovation sessions.

SXSW has become the annual gathering of geeks, thought leaders, VCs, distruptors and counter-thinkers.  Innovation in financial services has slowly made its way into this world famous conference with Mint.com, Kiva, Kickstarter, Lending Club, Credit Karma, Smarty Pig, Citi and others showing up last year to represent.

The timid but solid representation of financial innovation made a clear point last year: the transformative force of financial entrepreneuship is taking shape.  I predict this year will be a celebration of milestones in the disruption of the centuries old banking and financial services industry, but we'll also see an honest assessment by thought leaders of what the future holds.  No, banks will not go away, and yes financial innovation is here to stay: mix these two facts and let's see what results.

If you are in this space, or are intrigued by the changes in the banking industry, here are the panels and presentations you should not miss:

App, Shmapp, Tell Me What Works Across Platforms!
Friday March 11 at 3:30pm in Hilton H
with Aaron Forth (Mint.com / Intuit)

Aaron will challenge those thinking of creating your company mobile app, to think outside of the "just port it to mobile" box.  Companies should analyze customer usage patterns to develop the best possible mobile application and mold the app to harness the advantages of each platform.

The Future of Innovation in Banking
Saturday March 12 at 9:30am in Grand Ballroom
with Antonio Benjamin (CITI)

In his short time at CITI, Antonio has managed to instill hope in the banking industry's technology and innovative future. In an era of rapid internet developments and innovations, banks have no choice but to stop being laggards to stay competitive. Antonio will discuss the current landscape and share his vision for where the banking and payments industry is going.

Dawn of the Data: Future of Consumer Lending
Saturday March 12 at 9:30am in Hilton F/G
with Douglas Merrill (ZestCash), Paul Leonard (Center for Responsible Lending), Ryan Gilbert (BillFloat), Dana Mauriello (ProFounder)

Technology and mathematics are transforming consumer lending. Historically, it has been nearly impossible for people with bad credit to get loans.  With crowdfunding platforms, the tables are turned.  Now the "crowd" has the power to determine whether a person gets or not a loan...  is credit history failing to capture the essence of a person's creditworthiness.

Banks: Innovate or Die!
Saturday March 12 at 11:00am in Hilton F/G
with Brett King (Bank 2.0), Bob Weinschenk (SmartyPig), Joshua Reich (BankSimple), Anna O'Brien (CITI) and Rob Garcia (Lending Club)

This panel will take a close look at why banks seem to have lost their innovative edge. Have they gotten to big to... innovate?
Panelist will debate why big banks are failing with today's Web 2.0 consumers, and will examine the new players in the space who are stealing customers away from banks.

Crowdsourcing: Innovation and/or Exploitation?
Sunday March 13 at 5:00pm
with Fred Benenson (Kickstarter), Jonathan Zittrain (Harvard Law School), Lada Adamic (University of Michigan) and Lukas Biewald (CrowdFlower)

If your heard of or used crowdsourcing platforms like Amazon's mechanical turk or CrowdFlower, or crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, Kiva, IndieGoGo or Lending Club, you don't want to miss this session.  These sites use "the crowd" to source and fund projects and ideas. Are they leveraging the power of the crowd, or taking advantage of it?

David vs. Goliath: Internet Startups Battle Money Giants
Tuesday March 15 at 11:00am in Hilton
with Felix Salmon (Reuters), Michael JAcobs (OnDeck Capital), Sean Harper (FeeFighters), Shamir Karkal (Simple Finance TEchnology) and Suchitra Padmanabhan (CBW Bank)

This panel will explore how Internet and technology startups are transforming the financial services industry in a radical and permanent way.  I trust Felix will ask the tough questions and add a bit of his trade mark genious and humor.

There you have it.  These sessions you shall not miss.  Any others finance fanatics should check out?

@RobGarciaSJ

This week, SFBeta announced its selection of leading on-line financial services companies to demo during its next event: SFBeta Financial Innovation Edition.

The exclusive list includes established brand names like Mint, Lending Club, Second Market and Zecco, as well as promising new start-ups like Y-combinator's ReadyForZero and FinovateStartup's FeeFighters.  Other companies presenting are DebtGoal, CreditKarma, BillShrink, Credit Sesame,  BillFloat and MyTafi.com.

Don't miss this extraordinary opportunity to meet executives at these leading companies and see their latest product features and releases.  But buy your tickets soon!  Early bird tickets are already gone, and there is very limited space.

What: SFBeta Financial Innovation Edition

Where: Minna Gallery. 111 Minna St., San Francisco, CA 94103

When: Tuesday, January 11, 2010 5-9pm

Tickets: $17.50-25.00 advance purchase, $40 at the door

Buy your tickets now >>

@RobGarciaSJ

The holidays are here and let's face it, they are not all about cheer.  Not only are you probably overspending on gifts for friends, family, and colleagues, but you are also dreading the inevitable: getting gifts you don't want or need.

At Lending Club, we are determined to make these holidays more interesting by giving away thousands of dollars in Amazon.com Gift Cards*.  This way, you can treat yourself to the gift you really want.

During the month of December, you can earn one of these cards.  But hurry, time is running out.

Now through December 31, 2010, Lending Club is offering Amazon Gift Cards* to eligible investors. Gift card values range from $50 up to $3,000, based on amount transferred and invested.

Log in to learn more »

*Amazon.com is not a sponsor of this promotion. Amazon, Amazon.com, the Amazon.com logo, and the Amazon Gift Cards logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Amazon.com Gift Cards ("GCs") may be used only for purchases of eligible goods on Amazon.com or its affiliated website Endless.com. GCs cannot be redeemed for purchases of gift cards. Except as required by law, GCs cannot be reloaded, resold, transferred for value, redeemed for cash, or applied to any other account. See www.amazon.com/gc-legal for complete terms and conditions. GCs are issued and ©2010 by ACI Gift Cards, Inc., a Washington corporation.

To receive your gift card bonus, all funds must be (1) newly transferred between the date you enrolled in the program (but not earlier than December 1, 2010) and December 31, 2010, (2) continuously maintained in your Lending Club account and (3) fully invested on the Lending Club primary market by January 31, 2011. Existing account balances and transfers prior to your program enrollment date will not be counted towards satisfaction of the necessary load to earn this bonus. Your gift card bonus, if any, will be emailed to your email address on file within 5 business days of receiving your qualifying transfer. The transferred funds that qualify you for this bonus offering will be locked for investment purposes only and unavailable for withdrawal. You acknowledge and agree that Lending Club reserves the right to withdraw the full original value of the gift card delivered to you upon violation of any of these terms. If, upon any violation of these terms, your Lending Club account does not have sufficient funds to compensate Lending Club for the original value of the gift card provided to you, you authorize and direct Lending Club to remove from your Lending Club account any and all proceeds until such time as Lending Club has been repaid in full for the original value of the gift card. Transactions in the secondary market (the trading platform operated in by FolioFN) do not count as "investing funds" or towards unlocking the bonus. This bonus payment is taxable so please consult with your personal tax advisor. You are responsible for any taxes related to this offer. Void where otherwise prohibited. This program may be discontinued at any time without notice. This offer may not be combined with any other offer. Maximum bonus amount per tax id is $3,000.