Vanquis Banking Group acquires money-saving FinTech Snoop

By Gloria Methri

The Board of Vanquis Banking Group has announced the acquisition of the money-saving FinTech uSnoop Limited for an undisclosed amount.

Founded by former Virgin Money boss Jayne-Anne Gadhia, Snoop provides its customers with personalised insights to help them better understand and manage their finances. The Snoop app uses AI and open banking data to help people save on household bills and targets savings of up to £1,500 per year for customers.

It also helps businesses understand emerging consumer spending trends by analysing customer spending habits and transactions on its platform.

The acquisition will provide Snoop with significant scale, allowing access to Vanquis Banking Group’s 1.7 million customers who will benefit from the app, as well as with capital to grow the Snoop proposition. This acquisition marks an important step for Vanquis, bringing a money management and saving app into its customer proposition.

Ian McLaughlin, Incoming Chief Executive Officer, Vanquis Banking Group said, “Snoop’s technology will enable the Group to provide a differentiated proposition to its customers with tools enabling them to manage their finances better and save them money. I am delighted Snoop is becoming part of our Group and am confident that the combination of our customers and scale, with Snoop’s market-leading technology, will allow us to go from strength to strength.”

John Natalizia, Chief Executive Officer, Snoop said, “Snoop’s ambition is to make everyone better off, and we believe that personalisation is the most powerful way to empower people to take control of their finances and make a real difference to their spending habits. Our cutting-edge technology, which leverages Open Banking, allows us to do just that. Today’s announcement strengthens our purpose, and Vanquis Banking Group is the perfect partner to help the business grow”.

The acquisition has minimal impact on the Group’s regulatory capital.