LendingClub CEO: Focused On Delivering Fast Growth Over The Next Several Years

Shares of LendingClub Corp LC plunged heavily Wednesday on back of the company reporting worse-than-expected numbers for its first quarterly earnings post-IPO. Although revenues of the company more than doubled to $68.1 million, it reported a net loss of $9 for the quarter compared to a profit of $2.9 million reported same quarter last year.

Renaud Laplanche, LendingClub founder and CEO, was on CNBC Wednesday to discuss the company’s earnings and its strategy for 2015.

Chasing Growth

“We grew faster than we had initially planned,” Laplanche said. “We delivered triple-digit growth rate, so we grew revenue 108 percent from last year.

“We continue to roll out new products, new features and deliver a great experience – which really gives us the confidence to set another very high target with fast growth coming into 2015. And what we said yesterday is that we were planning to enable about $7.6 billion in loan origination this year, which would be as much as the eight last years combined.”

Related Link: LendingClub Falls Sharply On In-Line Q4 Outlook

2015: The Investment Year

When asked about how much the company is going to be spending in 2015, Laplanche replied, “I think the first time we come out with our own guidance there's obviously a readjustment between our internal plan and the investors’ expectations.

“Our guidance reflects our plan. So we believe now there will be a convergence between what we are planning to do and what investors expect, which is a good thing.

“But in terms of investments, we are really focused on delivering the fast growth over the next several years. We have the opportunity to really be transformative for the banking system.”