UK Fintech News Roundup: The Latest Stories 05/04

Every Wednesday we delve into the latest fintech updates from across the UK. This week brings updates from Tide, FinTech Wales, Bibby Financial Services, Lloyds Bank and GoHenry.

The tide reaches half a million

UK based fintech digital business financial platform Tide has reached 500,000 members in the UK. The significant milestone means that almost one in ten small businesses now use their services.

Tide also launched a micro and small business product in India last year, making it one of the first UK fintech companies to successfully go live in India. It plans to bring in an additional 500,000 SMEs in the country over the next two years.

Oliver PrillCEO of Tide, said: “Half a million members is a true testament to the quality of our products and services. Our mission to help small and medium-sized businesses save time and money is proving to be a success with more and more small businesses that choose to open their accounts with Tide. From Net Zero to supporting more female business owners, we plan to roll out more products and services this year to help SMEs launch and run their businesses.”

Bad debt is increasing in the UK

The average bad debt among UK SMEs has jumped by 61 per cent – ​​from £10,329 in spring 2022 to £16,641 today; according to research by Bibby Financial Services (BFS). It revealed that currently around 1.5 million (27 percent) SMEs are struggling with this problem.

59 percent of the companies surveyed said that it is more difficult to secure a loan today than during the pandemic. Eleven percent say they have struggled to secure finances for their business in the past six months. Meanwhile, thirty-nine percent were worried they won’t be able to repay loans if interest rates continue to rise.

Derek Ryan, UK chief executive of the BFS, commented on the findings. Ryan said: “We may have narrowly avoided recession, but economic conditions remain incredibly volatile, particularly for SMEs. Not only are small and medium-sized businesses struggling with the perennial problem of late payments and rising levels of bad debt, but they are also struggling to access the funding they need to operate day-to-day.”

FinTech Wales celebrates academy success

FinTech Walesin collaboration with the training provider iungo solutionshas recorded an 81 percent success rate from people who attended their ten-week coding or computer academies.

62 per cent of those who have completed the course have gone into roles within fintech or technology, and 19 per cent have gone on to further education.

Gemma Hallett, Head of Skills at FinTech Wales, commented: “Our skills strategy is to raise awareness of careers in fintech, and create the talent required to support our thriving ecosystem. We are thrilled with the success we are already seeing from the academies. We develop a constant stream of ready-to-work data analysts, cloud engineers and software developers, who are then hired by organizations within our ecosystem.”

Lloyds Bank and Enigio tackle digital information

Lloyds Bank has entered into cooperation with Enigio, a technology company that offers solutions to ensure the integrity, traceability and possession of digital information. The partnership will look to support greater use of digital documentation in trade finance through the use of blockchain technology.

The collaboration will look to expand the use of Enigios’track: original‘ solution for digital original documents including promissory notes, bills of exchange and bills of lading. It will also explore opportunities to display traces: original documents within wider trade finance products, such as documentary collections and credits.

By removing the need for physical transfer of documentation within trade transactions, Lloyds Bank aims to deliver faster, cheaper, flexible, sustainable and secure digital trade solutions for customers. The bank’s partnership with Enigio is also part of the bank’s digital strategy and paperless trading initiative.

Gwynne Mastersmanaging director of lending and working capital at Lloyds Bank, said: “We are delighted to have taken another major step in our quest to digitize trade. This partnership further cements our relationship with Enigio as we continue to expand the document types and underlying flows which will use “trace:original” documents.”

GoHenry acquired by Acorns

American savings and investment app Acorns have acquired GoHenrythe prepaid debit card and financial education app for kids and young adults.

In the UK and Europe, GoHenry and PixPay will continue to operate as is. Meanwhile, in the US, GoHenry will now operate as ‘GoHenry by Acorns’.

Noah Kerner, CEO of Acorns, discussed the acquisition. Kerner said: “All children around the world deserve access to responsible money management tools and financial education. GoHenry’s mission-driven approach is also perfectly aligned with Acorns, which we expect will help us accelerate our roadmap and deliver financial well-being to the entire family through all stages of life.”