Italian P2P Lender, Zopa Italia, announced that their new site will not relaunch until at least October. Zopa has been working on establishing sub-accounts for lenders as a part of an agreement with the Bank of Italy, and is pushing out their re-launch date out now that they have acquired additional details about the technical integration that will be involved in their agreement.
In its recent announcement, Zopa announced that its banking partner, the European Institute of Electronic Money (IMELU.EU) will hold a separate account for each lender before any loans are disbursed to borrowers. The regulatory integration and technical integration between Zopa and its banking partners have turned out to be much more work than Zopa had originally expected. The company has stated that it will provide an updated estimate by mid-October at the latest.
Many of Zopa Italy’s lenders and borrowers are upset about the delays, wondering whether or not Zopa’s agreement with the Bank of Italy will require them to pay new fees or tariffs. The harshest criticism came from users that are upset with Bank of Italy’s intervention to begin with, stating that regulators are focusing on a small niche in the lending industry rather than the larger issue of the country’s overall credit crisis.
Zopa’s primary competitor in Italy, Boober Italia, has also suspended new user registrations and have made an announcement on their website that they are under investigation by the Bank of Italy. Boober has claimed that the actions “have nothing to do with P2p lending at Boober.it,” however most borrowers and lenders believe that Boober’s statement is an attempt to keep its business operating with existing borrowers and lenders and do not represent the facts of the situation.
