Australia-based online lender SocietyOne announced on Monday it is celebrating its five-year anniversary of helping customers achieve their lending needs. This celebration comes less than two months after the lending platform surpassed $300 million in total originations. The lender revealed that more than 13,000 customers thanks to $325 million provided by its investor funders.
Sharing his thoughts about the anniversary, Jason Yetton, SocietyOne’s Managing Director and CEO, stated:
“After making its first loan in August 2012, the company passed the $300 million milestone in total originated personal loans in June this year – a feat that underlined the growth of the business from an idea into a company now trusted by thousands of Australians.”
In a recent interview, Yetton reported that operating in the financial services sector was a “scale game” and while the lending platform would look at expanding into other areas of lending this would be done with a long-term mindset. He explained:
“You don’t want to grow too quickly and compromise your integrity,” he told AB+F. “You need to have good people around you to cope with the growth and you need to have shareholders to invest for the long haul.”
Yetton also noted that In terms of its strategy to meet its long-term goals for taking a 2-3% share of the $100 billion consumer finance market, SocietyOne would focus on building its brand, investing in technology and look at targeting underserviced parts of the lending market. He then praised the foresight and contributions of the company’s co-founders, Greg Symons and Matt Symons, in setting up the business and offering borrowers and investor funders a different alternative to the major banks who dominate the personal loans sector. Yetton added:
“Full credit must be given to Greg and Matt who both believed in launching a marketplace lender. They have redefined a better way for people to borrow and created new opportunities for investors,” he said. “It takes a lot of vision, passion and determination to start a business in financial services and get it to the foundations it has today. They are the true believers.”