Cashplus, an established fintech firm offering digital banking services to UK businesses, has secured a full UK bank license.
Founded in 2005, the UK’s newest bank provides current account and lending services for small businesses and consumers.
The UK banking licence entitles Cashplus to use part of the £500 million in deposits from its 1.6 million customers for lending. The firm says it aims to provide £1bn of credit to UK small businesses to support the UK’s post-Covid-19 recovery.
The company is already an established lender with total lending of over £640m and uses advanced data techniques to support its underwriting capabilities.
In January, Cashplus signed a definitive agreement to acquire the current account portfolio of icount for an undisclosed sum. The deal sees five thousand accounts and £2 million in monthly transactions migrated from icount to Cashplus.
Cashplus generated £50m in revenues in 2020 and, in stark contrast with many other bank challengers, has recorded nine consecutive years of operating profit since 2012.
Founder and CEO Rich Wagner says: “When we started out 15 years ago, we got first-hand experience of the pain that small businesses face when dealing with big banks. While big banks are slamming the door shut, we’ll be welcoming customers, opening up lending and delivering enhanced products to support them through the challenging months ahead.”