The Weekly Wrap: all you need to know by Friday COB | Aug 26th

By Gaia Lamperti

The Weekly Wrap is published every Friday and recaps the week’s main stories and deals, as well as upcoming events and announcements. For Prime subscribers only.

The Big Story

Zopa bank has now crossed the £2 billion deposits mark, making it one of the fastest challenger banks to reach the milestone. The digital bank has seen its volume of deposits double in just the last seven months, and is now one of the fastest challenger banks to reach the milestone.

With rising inflation, energy prices, and rent increases adding considerable pressure on consumer finances, Zopa’s ambition is to make the billions in “zombie money” sitting idle in UK current accounts work harder. Zopa’s products are structured around “increased fairness, ease and value”, a spokesperson from the bank said, and the attractive returns on savings have become a lot more relevant in today’s environment.

The “hybrid” savings account Smart Saver launched earlier this year reached £100 million in deposits in its first 65 days and was targeted at users at the start of their savings journeys. It has now amassed £850 million in seven months.

Zopa in April achieved a rare feat among UK challenger banks, hitting profitability for the first time just 21 months after acquiring its UK banking licence. Since the launch in 2020, the challenger bank has attracted £2 billion in deposits, more than £1.5 billion of loans on balance sheet, issued 350,000 credit cards, and tripled (3x) its revenue per customer.

Deals of the week

• Propel Finance completes its first private securitisation as part of a £500 million financing round
• Tamara raises $100 million in Series B equity round
• CSI to be acquired by Centerbridge and Bridgeport for $1.6 billion
• Hazeltree secures $14 million investment led by FINTOP Capital
• Arc raises $20 million Series A to build the digital bank for software startups
• Muse announced raising $20 million in debt facility to support small businesses
• Highline secures $13 million in Series A funding

Be on the lookout for

Six months after introducing a four-day working week last November, Atom Bank publicly announced that the measure has proved overwhelmingly positive in terms of both job satisfaction and productivity. It is the largest UK business, and the first UK bank, to move all employees to a four-day working week, with no change of salary. “We firmly believe the four-day week is the future of working life,” said Anne-Marie Lister,the bank’s Chief People Officer.

Events & Appointments

• IBS Intelligence is a proud Research Partner at FinovateFall – with the theme Tech Meets Finance in the World’s Financial Capital from 12th to 14th September at The Marriott Marquis Times Square, New York. This is your chance to reconnect face-to-face with the FinTech community and plot a course for the future.
• The 11th NextGen Payments & RegTech Forum will take place in Athens, Greece, from 21st to 22nd September. Grab the opportunity to meet the key decision-makers that excel in this rapidly changing payments world.