After a record holiday period in 2018, a P2P lender has passed the $600m milestone in loan originations, exhibiting an average annual growth of 164% over the past four years.
SocietyOne recorded $64.9m in originations over the past three months alone, up dramatically from $39.5m over the same three month period the previous year.
“We are thrilled to be growing so strongly as it’s a sure sign that Australians are increasingly turning away from one-size-fits-all options and instead using our easy, transparent, individually tailored online loans than can be accessed from a bank,’’ said CEO Mark Jones.
Six months ago Jones was named as CEO and promptly implemented several measures that transformed the business and led to furthered success.
Among the initiatives was the introduction of a new credit scorecard in June, as well as a marketing campaign that went live in October.
SocietyOne also launched a broker channel mid 2018, which added more than $4m in new monthly originations.
According to COO Jonathan Chan, brokers have been “extremely positive” about the lender’s “competitive and transparent” pricing, lack of fees, and level of service.
Jones said, “The acceleration in loan take-up, especially in the last six to 12 months, reflects the improved customer experience, increased use of broker channels, and the return of existing customers.”
Jones added, “We’re now seeing real momentum in the business that we fully expect to continue, and which should see us achieve our goals of breaking even in the coming months and reach $1bn in loan originations by the first half of 2020.”
