LendingClub Ditches Loan Strategy It Said Would Upend Banking

LendingClub Corp. vowed its marketplace matching borrowers and lenders would transform the banking system. Six years after that promise helped fetch a $10 billion valuation, a key part of the firm’s product line is heading to a quiet end.

The fintech will close its platform that lets retail investors lend money, the company said last month, with a shutdown set for the end of the year. LendingClub plans to acquire a bank and will use its marketplace solely for selling loans to institutions and family offices, becoming a deeper part of an industry it once tried to upend.

Abandoning what ...