An update on our financial performance
Last year was an exceptionally strong year for Zopa Bank that laid the foundations for our strong profitable growth.
As people in the UK continued to navigate through the cost-of-living crisis and rising interest rates, Zopa’s proposition became ever more relevant.
For borrowers seeking fairly priced and responsible credit or savers seeking to find the right balance between returns and access, Zopa offers a superior alternative to the incumbents. These products are backed by award-winning customer service and proprietary technology.
As a result, in 2022 Zopa Bank made a profit on an adjusted basis of £10.1m (2021: £11.7m loss).
On a statutory basis, using IFRS9, our loss after tax reduced to £26.0m (2021: £34.2m loss). IFRS9 takes into account future credit impairments whereas the adjusted basis is on an incurred loss basis similar to UK GAAP.
Additional highlights of Zopa Bank’s financial performance:
In 2022 we grew our total operating income by 131% to £151m and expanded our customer base to approximately 868,000
We consistently maintained our industry leadership position with a net promoter score (NPS) of 83
This growth came hand in hand with increased efficiency as we reduced our cost-to-income ratio by 59 percentage points to 45.8%, highlighting the scalability of our proprietary technology and operating model
We brought to market even more innovative products, such as a hybrid savings account (access/notice), a new machine learning model that enhanced credit decisioning, a PCP product that doubled our total addressable market in car finance, and a credit card balance transfer product that helped customers consolidate debt, faster.
As a result, in 2022 our borrowers saved on average £601 when taking a debt consolidation loan while our savers earned on average 4.5x more interest at Zopa than they would have done at a high street bank.
The total money deposited with us by our customers exceeded £2.9bn, representing 202% year-on-year growth.
The main engine of this growth was our innovative, award-winning Smart Saver product, a “hybrid” (easy access / notice) savings account that allows customers to flexibly lock their money in exchange for a higher interest rate within pots.
H1 2023 trading update
Buidling on these profitable foundations, Zopa Bank continues to deliver strong growth with almost 1 million customers using Zopa products generating an annualised revenue run rate of £250 million.
Our proprietary technology enables us to achieve this growth even more efficiently, bringing our cost-to-income ratio further down to 40% (2022: 45.8%).
Our best-in-class underwriting models are using cutting edge AI and machine learning algorithms that have been optimised over the last 8 years and deliver stable and better than expected credit performance.
We also continued to innovate on behalf of our customers, developing a regulated BNPL product which offers a responsible alternative to existing providers, and the Smart ISA which allows savers to keep more of their hard-earned returns.
Importantly, we did that by maintaining our industry-leading net promoter score (NPS) at 82.
The 2025 Fintech Pledge
In addition to our direct efforts we felt that there was a real opportunity for the fintech industry to get together and do more for the wider community:
In September 2022 Zopa Bank mobilised a growing coalition of now circa 40 fintech firms and their industry partners that joined forces to tackle the UK’s cost-of-living crisis.
The Pledge (www.pledge2025.org) wants to drive 10 million consumer actions by 2025 that build up the financial resilience of UK consumers by connecting people to platforms that make savings work harder, improve credit scores, consolidate debt, and lower utility bills.
To date 5 million actions have been completed, of which 825,000 were completed by Zopa Bank.
Amidst the cost-of-living crisis, our proposition, built around fairly priced credit products and attractive savings returns delivered through a transparent and world-class digital experience, has never been more relevant.
We will continue to innovate and make borrowing affordable and easier to manage, savings more rewarding and provide tools that can help customers to make better decisions for themselves for all their financial needs.
