Five months ago an astute reader noticed a job ad on LinkedIn for a vice president of small business credit at Lending Club. At the time I confirmed with Scott Sanborn that they were planning on opening a dedicated small business lending operation.
Today, Lending Club announced they have finally filled the role for the head of this new division. Like many of the senior managers at both Lending Club and Prosper they have hired an executive from the banking industry. Sid Jajodia is the former head of small business lending at Capital One Bank.
So, Lending Club is clearly making progress on their small business lending operation and it looks like they are going to create their own underwriting model from scratch rather than acquire one of the existing online small business lenders. This is understandable as there is no true peer to business lender with a long track record, most of the companies have been in operation for less than a year.
I am excited to see what Lending Club comes up with here. I have made no secret of my interest in the small business sector and I am already investing in a dedicated small business lending fund. I hope to have some more information on Lending Club’s plans in coming weeks.
You can also read coverage of this news on Businessweek and San Francisco Business Times.
What do you think? Will you consider lending to small businesses on Lending Club? As always I am interested to hear your thoughts.
