At Oplo, we’re passionate about responsible lending and money management. We want everyone, not just our customers, to know how to save, spend, and borrow in ways that will help them fulfil their true potential. And it all starts by making sure the next generation has the financial knowledge they’ll need to make informed decisions about the countless financial products and services that will be available to them in life.

Financial Education for Sixth Formers

We’ve been busy creating a financial education program to help empower the spenders, savers, budgeters and borrowers of tomorrow. Using this program, Oplo will help introduce 16 to 18-year-olds to important parts of finance. This will help build their understanding of financial products and think about what’s right for them as they navigate further studies and go off into the working world.

Our dedicated Financial Educator, Andrew, will be kicking off the programme with groups of sixth formers from schools in the Blackpool area, and later further afield. We’ve even commissioned a 16-seater bus to be transformed into a modern and immersive mobile learning hub, ready to take on tour across the North West.

The Oplo Financial Education Bus

Onboard the Oplo Bus, over the course of six engaging 30min sessions, Andrew will get the next generation thinking and talking about good habits in money management, as well as the pros and cons of many of today’s financial products and services.

From the perspective of the schools’, our free of charge course removes the burden on teachers to research, fact check and lesson plan around this tricky topic.

Our goal is to make life easier for educators by offering a reliable, comprehensive, and uncomplicated route to upskilling students as they prepare to leave high school. And as a responsible educator, there will be absolutely no promotion of Oplo’s products and services in any part of the learning experience.

Let’s Power the Potential of the Next Generation

We can’t wait to work with schools to provide a practical financial education in a fun, inclusive and uncomplicated way. Helping young adults go on to enjoy a happier, more fulfilling life, free from uncontrollable debt and empowered by informed financial decision making.

If you’re an educational establishment and would like further information, please email Andrew Hurst at andrew.hurst@myoplo.co.uk  

Oplo completes £225m securitisation – its first ever securitisation – aimed at accelerating Oplo’s progress towards becoming the largest consumer lender in the UK’s growing ‘new mainstream’ market

Oplo has over £400m assets under management and is on target to break through £1 billion in gross lending since its launch in 2009

Recent report by Oplo identified up to 26 million customers from traditional prime and near prime segments in the ‘new mainstream’ consumer lending market

Leading consumer lender, Oplo, is announcing today the completion of its first securitisation as the business targets continued growth supporting the UK’s ‘new mainstream’ lending market.

The £225m securitisation follows a series of investor roadshows in September.

Alex Mollart, Oplo Founder and Chief Executive, said:

“Oplo is on a mission to become the UK’s largest lender to the UK’s growing ‘new mainstream’ market of consumers looking for a fair way to borrow with flexible and affordable credit.

“Our first ever securitisation will play a key part in driving our ambitious growth plans over the next few years as we look to support even more hard-working consumers with new products and services.”

Over the past decade, Oplo has built a strong and growing consumer lending business, becoming one of the UK’s leading specialist consumer lenders offering personal, home and car finance loans to borrowers in the growing ‘new mainstream’ market.

Since its launch in 2009, Blackpool-based Oplo has lent over £800m, with over £400m of assets currently under management.

This first securitisation will underpin and accelerate Oplo’s ambitious growth plans as the firm aims to become the largest consumer lender of its type in the UK, leading the way in providing flexible and fair finance for the ‘new mainstream’ market.

Recent analysis by Oplo has identified up to 26 million customers from traditional prime and near prime segments in the ‘new mainstream’ consumer lending market, including up to 7 million conventionally prime customers unable to access mainstream finance from traditional lenders or choosing to use new digital lenders and alongside the UK’s growing ‘near-prime’ market which Oplo estimates now covers up to 19m consumers.

Securitisation Details:

• First time issuance
• £225m securitisation backed by a pool of UK second and subsequent charge Consumer Secured loans, originated from August 2017 onwards
• Rated by Moody’s and S&P
• Use of funds to pay down existing senior warehouses and support Oplo’s growth

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About Oplo
In a little more than a decade, Oplo has grown to be one of the leading lenders in the UK’s consumer credit market, offering personal loans, home loans and car finance to customers in the UK’s growing ‘near-prime’ market.

Oplo prides itself on offering customers a more tailored and supportive service than conventional lenders, combining technology and data, with Oplo’s deep credit expertise and authentic customer service, and every year, Oplo helps nearly 20,000 customers improve their credit scores.

Established in 2009 in Blackpool, Oplo has lent over £800m since its launch. With £400m assets under management, the firm is on track to become the largest consumer lender of its type in the UK.

Contact:
Oplo
CorporateAffairs@myoplo.co.uk

Oplo PR advisers:
Emma Byrne, 56˚ North
emma.byrne@56degreesnorth.co.uk / 07775 657 241

Seismic change underway in market

Oplo research shows a “New Mainstream” of customer emerging often ignored by traditional lenders

“New Mainstream” often financially excluded from obtaining credit

Leading UK consumer lender Oplo releases an important new report today Read report (PDF) which reveals that the market’s traditional way of viewing customer profiles in terms of lending criteria is rapidly becoming outdated.

Consumer credit is a key feature of everyday life for the vast majority of Brits, with over 80% of adults (42.5million) using a form of regulated credit in the past 12 months*.

Traditionally, the consumer credit market has been viewed through three main categories of consumer: prime, near-prime and sub-prime. Oplo’s report reveals this segmentation does not account for some powerful underlying changes taking place including the effects of the introduction of new policy and technologies to a wide range of long-term industry and consumer trends.

This has resulted in a new category of consumer: The New Mainstream, which the report shows now constitutes a market of some 26 million borrowers.

The ‘New Mainstream’ category is a cohort of British consumers straddling both the traditional prime and near-prime categories who are often unable to access credit due to traditional lenders increasingly tightening their lending criteria.

Oplo’s analysis of the market shows that:

• The impact of Covid is likely to see over 1.5 million consumers move from prime to ‘near prime’ credit segments
• The tightening of risk criteria by Britain’s traditional bank lenders is likely to see a further 3 million customers move from prime to near prime categories
• While at the same time an additional 1.5 million young customers are thought to have moved away from choosing traditional lenders for borrowing and opting to use digital and alternative lenders for their personal borrowing

Alex Mollart, Oplo’s CEO, said:

“In many ways, the UK has a highly competitive and innovative consumer credit market but we don’t see due consideration by traditional lenders to people’s circumstances and potential. In today’s world, people’s lifestyles and financial circumstances fluctuate considerably, which often means that they are denied access to the best offers available as they don’t fit neatly into a “prime” or “super-prime” customer segment.

“This is a very one-dimensional view and instead we believe that the power of a customer’s potential should be recognised.”

Oplo’s New Mainstream Report provides detailed analysis of the UK’s consumer lending market and explores the contributing factors to changes we are seeing in how this market is evaluated and understood – from macro-economic trends, industry trends, changing lifestyles and consumer preferences. The report can be downloaded <>.

ends

Media enquiries:
corporateaffairs@myoplo.co.uk

Notes to Editors:
*Financial Lifes Survey, FCA, February 2020

About Oplo:

• Oplo is one of the UK’s leading providers of consumer credit, offering personal loans, home loans and car finance to the emerging “new mainstream” market of consumers seeking credit.
• Oplo makes it easier for people to access fair, expert lending with excellent personalised customer service powered by modern, innovative technology.
• Oplo has over £300m assets under management and is on-track to realise its ambition of becoming the largest direct-to-consumer lender of its type in the UK.