prestiamoci_logoYou might not think the nascent peer-to-peer lending market in Italy has room for another player, but three guys in Milan think otherwise. Prestiamoci, which means “let’s lend to each other” in Italian, is the brainchild of Mariano Carozzi, Paolo Galvani, and Giovanni Tarditi. Carozzi, who was previously a lawyer with online bank Banca Sella, was inspired to start Prestiamoci after finding out about Prosper in the US. He dragged his two banker friends in with him, and in 2007 Prestiamoci was born.

The site  won’t launch until September (see my previous note about Italians doing anything productive in August), but it’s not just the launch date that’s culturally sensitive. Carozzi & co. hope to bring a distinctly Italian character to the site. Unlike their competition at Zopa Italy and Boober Italy, which were both started in other countries (the U.K. and the Netherlands, respectively), Prestiamoci hopes to capture the community spirit that Italians recognize in their daily lives and bring it to “prestiti P2P” (P2P lending). They acknowledge that Italians are less open with each other about financial matters, and will tailor the site to capture these issues in their marketplace.

Prestiamoci Pinwheel

From a regulatory perspective, however, Prestiamoci has applied for and received the same lending license that Zopa and Boober have: they are now included in the “Albo degli intermediari finanziari” (list of regulated financial entities) at the Bank of Italy. Presumably the Banco d’Italia has improved their screening of peer lending outfits since being indian givers with Zopa’s license.

Prestiamoci is unique from its competitors in that they have built their own technology platform, and are working on improvements to traditional credit scoring. Prestiamoci will use credit scoring from CRIF Perform, but hopes to improve lender underwriting through the integration of other (yet unnamed) factors.

On a “Countdown” section of the site (which, according to the URL, may have originally been named “Manifesto”), Prestiamoci volcalizes their frustrations with traditional banking and credit. This includes the complexity of credit data, the recent crisis of confidence in the world of credit, and even the pitfalls of social networking. On the last point, the site hints at letting borrowers and lenders expose their real names to each other, which would be quite novel (and possibly fraught with danger) in social lending.

Alas, the countdown is only at T minus 6, so we look forward to seeing the full site when it launches in September.

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