Peer2Peer Finance News
The UK's first peer-to-peer finance magazine for investors and the industry
  • Home
  • News
    • Personal Finance News
    • Industry News
    • SME News
    • Global News
  • Property
  • IFISA
    • IFISA Guide
  • Video
  • Open Banking
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Features
    • Joint Ventures and Promoted Content
  • Comment & Analysis
  • What is P2P?
  • Partners
  • Events
    • Past Events
  • P2P Power 50
    • Power 50 2020
    • Power 50 2019
    • Power 50 2018
    • Power 50 2017
  • Sign up to our e-newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • My Account
    • Manage Account
    • Change Password
    • Log In
    • Log Out
Giles Andrews Zopa
September 11 2017

Zopa’s Andrews warns on post-Brexit skills shortage

Kathryn Gaw Industry News, News Barcelona tech hub, Brexit, EU talent, Giles Andrews, peer-to-peer consumer lending, Zopa

THE UK is facing a technology skills shortage that may worsen because of Brexit, Zopa’s co-founder and chairman has warned.

Giles Andrews (pictured) said that the peer-to-peer consumer lender’s decision to open a hub in Barcelona was partly due to a concern that it would be harder to recruit top tech talent following the UK’s departure from the EU.

“Opening the Barcelona office is an acknowledgement of the challenge of recruiting highly skilled developers in this country, and a concern that the situation might get worse because of Brexit,” he said in an exclusive interview with Peer2Peer Finance News. “I don’t think it makes you a radical pessimist to say that now.”

The world’s older peer-to-peer lending firm unveiled plans to open the Barcelona hub in June this year, heralding the Catalan capital’s “exciting and fast-growing tech scene”.

There are currently around a dozen people working there, developing technology both for Zopa’s existing platforms and for its planned digital bank.

Andrews said that Barcelona’s international community and its attractiveness to Zopa’s UK staff played a part in choosing the city over more typical European tech hubs such as Warsaw, Bucharest or Berlin.

Read more: Zopa scales back higher-risk lending due to UK consumer credit outlook

“It’s very international,” Andrews said. “There are lots of people there from all over the world, in the same way that there are in London. Also, it’s really important that these operations are very well integrated and there is more enthusiasm from the people here to spend time in Barcelona than there might have been for some of those other places.”

Zopa unveiled its plans to apply for a banking licence late last year. The banking operations will sit separately to the firm’s core P2P business, but will enable the firm to offer a wider range of services to UK consumers.

In June, the platform announced that it had closed a £32m equity fundraising led by Indian conglomerate Wadhawan Global Capital (WGC) and European venture capital fund Northzone, that would be used to finance the build-out of its bank infrastructure.

Can P2P lenders compete on rates in the personal loans market? From regulation to securitisation, a year in the life of Peer2Peer Finance News

Related Posts

Businesswoman Writing On Checklist

Industry News, News, Property, Top 3

Proptee to apply for full FCA authorisation ahead of launch

credit card

Industry News, News, Personal Finance News, Top 3

Credit limits slide despite surge of new loan activity

Business handshake and business people. Business concept.

Industry News, News, Top 3

NorthRow appoints new chief executive

Popular posts:

  • Government responds to P2P fraud query
  • FCA lumps P2P lending in with higher risk products again
  • The alternative lenders accredited for CBILS
  • 4th Way gives its views on Zopa and Funding Circle returns
  • Funding Circle to offer first and second draw PPP loans
  • SME lender warns many companies will not survive
Back To Top
  • Home
  • Contact
  • About
  • Team
  • Advertising
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy
  • T&Cs
  • Disclaimer

Follow Us on Social Media

© Peer2Peer Finance News 2020
• Additional design by