Digital bank Zopa has appointed Jeremy Penzer as its Chief Analytics Officer.

He joins Zopa from Visa, the digital payments network, where he was Head of Data Science for Europe. Prior to that he served as Capital One Europe’s Chief Analytics Officer and as an academic statistician at the London School of Economics.

Jeremy will oversee a team of 80 data scientists, credit decisioning, and valuation experts as the bank enters a phase of accelerated growth and prepares to release a raft of new products and services.

Zopa uses algorithms built using machine learning to make lending decisions almost instantaneously; 99% of approved loans take less than 5 seconds for credit approval.

In recent months Zopa has been testing its flagship current account in beta and a GenAI proposition that will bring humanity and warmth bank into everyday banking.

The appointment comes off the back of an exceptionally strong year for Zopa, followed by a €80 million equity raise led by A.P. Moller Holding - owners of the Maersk shipping and logistics giant and investors in Danske Bank.

Jeremy Penzer, CAO at Zopa Bank said: “I am thrilled to be joining Zopa as it continues its remarkable trajectory as one of the fastest-growing digital banks in the UK. Zopa is the only UK neobank successfully lending at scale, meeting all consumer lending and saving needs in one place. I am looking forward to taking Zopa’s data and analytics capabilities to the next level as its steps into everyday banking and enters its next phase of growth”.

In just over 4 years Zopa has secured its banking license, grown to over 1.4 million customers, and achieved profitability. It has launched unsecured personal loans, BNPL retail finance and POS, car finance, credit cards, savings accounts, and tools for improved financial management and health.

To date Zopa has attracted £5.5 billion in deposits and has just over £3 billion of loans on its balance sheet. The company has close to 900 employees and one of the highest employee satisfaction scores in the UK fintech industry.

Zopa recently partnered with the UK's largest electricity supplier Octopus Energy to enter the UK’s £23 billion renewable energy market, and with the retail giant John Lewis to offer personal loans directly to its 23 million customers.

One of the UK’s highest rated and most celebrated financial brands, Zopa Bank was again voted the UK’s Best Personal Loan Provider and Best Credit Card Provider at the 2024 British Bank Awards.