Your IndustryNov 14 2018

Nationwide buys stake in fintech business

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Nationwide buys stake in fintech business

Nationwide has dipped into its fintech fund to take a minority stake in financial management platform Moneyhub.

This is the third deal for Nationwide’s £50m venture capital fund since its launch in June 2018. The size of the investment was not disclosed.

Based in Bristol, Moneyhub is a financial management platform that allows consumers to view all their financial accounts, including bank accounts, credit cards, mortgages, pensions and investments, in one place.

Tony Prestedge, deputy chief executive at Nationwide, said: "Investing in start-ups like Moneyhub helps us identify, learn about and explore new capabilities and technologies that will help deliver our technology strategy both now and in the future."

Moneyhub is designed to consolidate accounts from multiple financial sources and providers into one place for consumers by using open banking and artificial intelligence technology.

Mr Prestedge said: "While many people will have heard of open banking and AI technology, they may not be able to tell you much about how they are starting to impact their day to day lives, but we believe they are game changers for the financial services industry.

"In the future, open banking and AI will allow Nationwide to offer even more tailored and personalised services to our members."

Sam Seaton, chief executive of Moneyhub said: "Moneyhub’s platform and API gateway show the potential of open banking, AI based data analysis and a customer-first culture to power a step change in how financial services is delivered."

The platform recently secured authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority as a payment initiation services provider, allowing users to make payments and bank-to-bank transfers.

In addition to integrating with the APIs of challenger banks Starling and Monzo, it is also in the process of linking to other banks and has integrated with adviser software provider Intelliflo.

Nationwide’s venturing fund is part of the building society’s multi-billion-pound tech investment, which will see the business invest a total of £4.1bn in technology over the next five years.

At launch, Nationwide announced the venturing fund invested in Acasa, a bill-splitting app for landlords and tenants in shared accommodation.

Its second investment came in August 2018 when it participated in a £1.8m seed funding round for Hazy, the GDPR-compliant data sharing app.