British lender Zopa awarded full banking licence

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's oldest peer-to-peer lending platform Zopa has been awarded a full banking licence by regulators, becoming the latest online player to expand into traditional banking services in a bid to boost profitability.The London-based business launched in 2005 and approves around 1 billion pounds of personal loans a year through its peer-to-peer platform, which brings together individual borrowers and lenders without a bank being involved.The company has been working towards..