Peer-to-peer lending — where savers cut out banks and lend directly to people and businesses at better rates — is growing explosively in the UK and the latest company to underline this is Zopa. The London-based company just announced that it hit a big lending milestone after 10 years — £1 billion ($1.5 billion). The peer-to-peer (P2P) lender was the first of its kind in the UK when it opened its doors way back in 2005. Its platform lets savers lend their money directly to individuals (as opposed to businesses like, say, Funding Circle does.) Lenders typically get an annual interest rate of 5%, better than banks' offers to savers. While £1 billion is a big milestone to hit, what's perhaps more interesting is how quickly Zopa expects to hit its next billion.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/peer-to-peer-zopa-lends-1-billion-2015-8