LendingClub CEO Plots Path Around Crypto as Firm Builds Out Bank

(Bloomberg) -- LendingClub Corp. is resisting pressure from stakeholders to jump into cryptocurrency as it completes a bank acquisition and works to introduce more traditional financial products.

“Look, the customer demand is there, but my view -- our view -- is if you've got $15,000 in credit-card debt, the thing you should do with your next $500 is not buy a speculative asset,” Chief Executive Officer Scott Sanborn said Tuesday in an interview at Bloomberg News headquarters in New York. “We recognize we could be leaving some consumer demand on the table.”

Sanborn, who took over in 2016, is laying out a new path for the peer-to-peer lender after its $185 million acquisition last year of Radius Bancorp Inc. LendingClub has been expanding offerings, including high-yield savings accounts and certificates of deposit. That doesn't leave a lot of room for a crypto initiative, Sanborn said.

“I don't want to get distracted,” he said. “Back half of the year, into next year, we'll be focusing on the mobile-banking experience.”

The San Francisco-based financial-technology firm has retained part of its marketplace that matches borrowers with institutional investors, while ditching the portion allowing retail investors to lend money. LendingClub expects to keep more loans on its balance sheet, earning three times as much as the debt it chooses to offer through the marketplace, Sanborn told Bloomberg TV.

Rival startups including Affirm Holdings Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc.'s Venmo are either working on or already are offering crypto options. LendingClub has chosen instead to focus on its expansion, including introducing more savings products, and on the relocation of its servicing center to Utah as it continues to work through the Radius acquisition.

“We're still digesting the bank,” Sanborn said of the firm's appetite for M&A. “We have a really good use of our capital right now, which is putting it in the balance sheet. I know what that return is -- it's really high -- and it's really straightforward. But as we fully mature into that, we're certainly going to be generating a lot of capital.”