In a blog post from CEO Jaidev Janardana, the platform revealed that it planned to offer Financial Services Compensation Scheme-protected deposit accounts for savers, P2P investments and finance – such as personal loans, car finance and credit cards – once it secures a banking licence.

“We have actively chosen not to launch a current account because we believe that open banking will significantly weaken a customer's relationship with their current account,” said Jaidev.

“We see a world where customers will care more about how their current account interacts with other financial products rather than who their provider is – much like how consumers are agnostic about whether their credit card is from MasterCard or Visa.”

Zopa initially announced plans to launch a bank in November 2016.

Earlier this year, the firm claimed to have become the first UK P2P platform to reach the £2bn lending milestone.

Zopa now believes it will lend around £250m to UK consumers in the first quarter of 2017.

Jaidev added: “Customer focus is embedded in the business, and our tribe structure embodies the agile approach that allows us to deliver technological innovation at speed.

“We're uniquely placed to make the next generation bank a leader in consumer finance combining our customer-centric culture, agile technology and data excellence with a track record of loan origination and risk management.

“No other provider has this combination of attributes.”