Renaud Laplanche to open proceedings at major UK fintech lending conference

Former Lending Club boss to deliver opening keynote at LendIt Europe 2017.

Day two of LendIt Europe will get underway with a keynote speech from perhaps the industry’s best-known figure. Renaud Laplanche (pictured), who was  from his role dismissedas CEO of Lending Club in May of 2016, will open the second day of LendIt Europe in London, October 9-10.

Laplanche currently heads up the very deliberately-named Upgrade – a consumer lending platform that also offers credit monitoring and education tools to its users. The startup secured a staggering $60m Series A fundraise upon going live in April of this year, and touts its model as “online lending 2.0”.

It is this next-iteration lending concept that Laplanche will discuss at the conference. He will also cover the state of the US online lending industry today, and how it fits into broader fintech sector trends going forwards.

Peter Renton, co-founder and chairman of LendIt, called Laplanche a wonderful addition to the roster, adding that he brings a unique perspective as somebody who grew up in Europe but who now lives in the US.

Laplanche says he looks forward to exchanging ideas with technology, business and government leaders in Europe. “There continues to be very strong interest in the US market from investors and platforms in Europe and I look forward to sharing our thoughts on where the US market stands today and where we think it’s going,” he said.