Zopa hires new CTO

UK’s largest peer-to-peer lender appoints ex-PokerStars man as new CTO.

Ronen Benchetrit has joined consumer lending platform Zopa as chief technology officer. Benchetrit most recently served as CTO for online gaming platform PokerStars, where he oversaw the provision of technology and management of the company’s product roadmap. He also led the development of AVAYA Telecommunications switches and Voice-Over-IP phones for the enterprise marketplace. Prior to that, Benchetrit led the engineering in a software development boutique specializing in the security and defence sectors, which he co-founded.

Zopa is the UK’s largest peer-to-peer lender with over £1.5bn in cumulative lending and a 3 month market share of 19.09%, according to the Liberum AltFi Volume Index UK. 

The UK’s major peer-to-peer lenders continue to beef up their senior leadership teams. Funding Circle last week appointed Jeremy Bennett – former CEO of Nomura International and EMEA – as global CFO. Commenting on the arrival of Benchetrit, Zopa CEO Jaidev Janardana said: “His arrival is yet another major building block in our drive to continue and accelerate Zopa’s growth in changing the landscape of consumer financial products”.

Benchetrit also commented: "I am delighted to join Zopa, a true pioneer and innovator in its field. I believe that Zopa is leading by example, with great innovative products and an award winning team. I hope to use my experience and skills to drive rapid growth for Zopa, making it accessible to an ever growing number of customers and leading Zopa as a fintech pioneer."