LendingClub: Building a Digital Marketplace Bank for Personal Loans
Winner of Celent Model Bank 2023 Award for Marketplace Banking
Abstract
One of the main visions of fintech innovation in banking during the past decade has been the creation of new digital banking marketplaces enabled by the cloud, API integration, AI/analytics, and embedded finance. Marketplace banking is purported to create new revenue streams for financial institutions. Yet there are few successful business models and best practice case studies to emerge.
This Celent Model Bank case study highlights a successful marketplace banking example for trading retail consumer loans in a digital marketplace. LendingClub is the first digital marketplace bank for personal loans in the United States. Their success is built on loan analytics and cloud technology that supports both new loan origination and closed loan marketplace trading. It is unique in the industry with its custom-built loan pricing and trading technology and an integrated customer experience for both the retail customer and the loan buyer/investor customer. LendingClub’s LCX loan marketplace platform enables loan investors to search, segment, select, buy, and resell LendingClub personal loans. Loan investors can now also acquire these loans from each other in addition to from LendingClub.