Australia: Social Lending in social networks

ByLaurel Papworth

Just a quick update from my other blog post ( peer to peer lending in australia): New peer-to-peer lending websites starting up in Australia Lenders and borrowers set the terms of the loans P2P lending could be worth $5bn globally within three years P2P in Australia First to market in Australia is Sydney-based iGrin which…

Just a quick update from my other blog post ( peer to peer lending in australia):

  • New peer-to-peer lending websites starting up in Australia
  • Lenders and borrowers set the terms of the loans
  • P2P lending could be worth $5bn globally within three years

P2P in Australia

First to market in Australia is Sydney-based iGrin which softly launched www.igrin.com.au in October. It has recently brokered Australia’s first online P2P loan, worth $5000.

It will be joined soon by Brisbane-based Peermint which will operate in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

In New Zealand, www.nexx.co.nz has announced it will be up and running soon.

Plans to bring Zopa to Australia are also underway and might eventuate in 2008. Industry rumours variously suggest that Google, eBay and PayPal are also considering working towards P2P lending services. (more at news.com.au)

Note to social bankers – it won’t work if you don’t put a focus on social. ’nuff said. Oh and watch out for the ones who embed themselves in other large networks. Lending Club in Facebook. Offering takeaway options … Creating a social network around products and services is hard. Providing useful tools into already large networks is much easier, no?

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