uk.zopa.com Launched in March 2005, Zopa was the first online ‘peer-to-peer’ lending marketplace – it cuts out the middleman by putting lenders and borrowers directly in touch. Created by Giles Andrews, 46, it has more than 850,000 members in Britain who have lent and borrowed more than £225 million. The rates are agreed on between lender and borrower but the average return on all money lent over the last year was 6.2 per cent per annum. Lenders pay an annual fee of one per cent to Zopa on the money they lend, and borrowers pay a fixed fee that is added to their loan – the company broke even in 2011. In March Andy Haldane, the head of policy at the Bank of England, said, ‘Small peer-to-peer lenders like Zopa could in time replace high-street banks.’ It employs 28 staff in its London office.