First Australian peer-to-peer lender goes live

Peer-to-peer lender iGrin has quietly launched as it prepares to take on the Australian banking industry.

CEO Phil Hopper, a former exec manager in CBA’s global markets, told Online Banking Review the privately funded start-up has set out to build Australia’s first and best P2P banking community.

“The P2P lending space is likely to become busy over the next few years and having been the first to market in Australia we intend to keep that leadership position.”

Hopper says the group has been busy proving its business model and ensuring compliance with the Australian regulatory environment and is now in discussions with a number of parties considering taking a strategic stake in the company.

The group will be targeting Internet savvy customers looking for alternatives to personal loans from the banks, those seeking to consolidate credit card debt, and small business owners seeking start-up loans.

Hopper says at present the group is different to other peer-to-peer lenders because it offers both an open exchange or market for P2P loans as well as failitating what it calls "Member Direct" loans.

It is free for a borrower to list a loan and the borrower only pays an establishment fee once the loan is executed.