Barclays is spending US$800m to buy US personal loan platform Best Egg, which is just 12 years old and was founded and is still run by former Barclays bankers. The deal significantly steps up the UK bank's push into the US consumer market and helps make it less reliant on its investment bank.
Best Egg is a direct-to-consumer personal loan origination platform with a focus on prime borrowers. It was founded in August 2013 as Marlette Funding and launched its online loan product Best Egg in March 2014. Marlette changed its name to Best Egg in June 2023. It now has more than two million customers and has facilitated more than US$40bn in personal loans.
Barclays said Best Egg is expected to facilitate more than US$7bn in loans this year, which are funded through structures including securitisation programmes and forward flow arrangements provided by a range of alternative asset managers. The securitisation of loans makes it a capital-light operation.
Best Egg is based in Wilmington, Delaware, which is also where Barclays' US consumer operations are based.
Best Egg was founded by Jeffrey Meiler, who was CEO until he resigned in 2023. Meiler worked at Barclays from 2002 to 2010, for Barclaycard in the UK and then in Wilmington for its US credit card business, according to his profile on LinkedIn.
Best Egg president Bobby Ritterbeck and CEO Paul Ricci also previously worked at Barclays. Ritterbeck has been at the firm since its outset, initially as chief marketing officer, and previously worked at Barclays in Wilmington for 11 years until 2011, his LinkedIn profile showed. Ricci joined Best Egg in 2014 and was CFO before taking over as CEO two years ago, and previously worked at Barclays for seven years in its US cards business until 2007, his profile showed.
Chief financial officer Andrew Deringer joined Best Egg in 2019 and previously worked in investment banking and corporate strategy at Morgan Stanley and at the Chicago Federal Reserve.
Barclays' US consumer banking operates mostly through partnerships for credit cards. It also originates personal loans through 10 partners but lacks the ability to do it at scale. It has a bigger presence in investment banking in the US and also has a long-term naming rights deal for the Barclays Center in New York, home of the Brooklyn Nets basketball team.
“The deep and sophisticated US consumer finance market offers rich prospects for growth at Barclays," CEO CS Venkatakrishnan said in a statement. "The transaction will strengthen our US consumer bank and offers an exciting opportunity to significantly bolster our capabilities in personal lending.”
Best Egg makes fees from its loan origination and servicing activities and Barclays said it plans to continue this model and retain a small portion of its new lending flow on its balance sheet.
The deal is expected to complete in the second quarter of 2026 and consume about 16bp of group Common Equity Tier 1 capital. Barclays said it is expected to be accretive to its US commercial bank's return on tangible equity in 2027.