Monetto.pl, a new "social lending" site, launched last month. Social lending - also known as peer-to-peer (P2P) lending - is a relatively new phenomenon on the Polish web. It involves taking loans not from a bank or other financial institution, but directly from another person through an online auction system.
"In Poland, the difference between interest rates for loans and those on bank deposits is so large that [this situation] presents a great opportunity for social lending services like Monetto.pl," said Łukasz Banach, the president of Prender, the firm which operates Monetto.pl.
"Lending money is profitable for both borrowers and lenders. The borrower benefits from a cheap loan, while the lender will earn more than from simply depositing his money in the bank," Banach told WBJ. "Social lending can also be a great alternative investment when the situation on the bourse is very unstable," he added.
The security of the loans offered on Monetto.pl is guaranteed by cooperation with the National Debt Register Economic Information Bureau, the InfoMonitor economic information bureau, and debt-collection company Kaczmarski Inkasso. The website has signed a contract with BRE Insurance to offer voluntary insurance on loans.
Each Monetto.pl user has to follow a dual-level identification procedure. Additionally, users' financial circumstances will be reviewed before being assigned a profile. Each user is classified in one of five financial security levels. The firm earns revenues through commission - from half a percent to one percent of each loan, depending on the security level of the user.
Not everyone is enthusiastic about P2P lending, however. "This type of financial activity is not strictly controlled by the KNF [the Polish Financial Supervision Authority]. Only banks and institutions which are controlled by the KNF can offer their customers complete loan security," said Arkadiusz Mierzwa, the spokesperson for Bank Pekao. "The usage of online services as Monetto.pl, even if it looks more efficient, is riskier," he told WBJ.
Social lending has already become very popular elsewhere. The largest social lending web pages are Zopa.com in the US and the UK's Prosper.com. In Poland, Kokos.pl and Finansowo.pl also offer social lending.
