Ferratum will provide Thomas Cook Money with a fully functional and regulated mobile consumer finance offering powered by Ferratum’s highly successful and innovative mobile banking platform. Customers will experience the world’s first mobile banking app designed for holidays through the newly established Thomas Cook Money brand “Sumo”.

In the first wave of Sumo, available initially in Sweden, customers can quickly and easily set up a fee-free multi-currency account that comes with an intelligent contactless debit card. This can automatically identify the local currency, thus enabling them to pay at point of sale at home and overseas without incurring transaction charges and withdraw cash without incurring additional fees.

Sumo also has a range of regular and fixed-term savings accounts that will help people take a year-round approach to planning for their holiday, which remains one of the biggest annual household spends . With the in-built savings tool, customers can set up a weekly or monthly savings plan to reach their target goal.

In addition to the app’s core features, Sumo customers will enjoy new services not previously seen in a mobile banking app. Customers can also click through to the Thomas Cook holiday booking engine to book their holiday.

Another feature is the ability to send money to friends and family via SMS to cover shared holiday expenses.

Eligible customers will be able to apply for an industry standard overdraft facility up to a maximum of 20,000 SEK (Swedish Krona). This will allow customers to dip into additional funds via the app, to top up their holiday spending whilst keeping control of their budget.

A Sumo account is simple to use and can be set up securely in under 10 minutes, all via a mobile phone. Supporting seven currencies, including Euros and Sterling1, Sumo makes it even easier for customers to plan and manage their holiday money both at home and abroad.

As Sumo will run on Ferratum’s open Application Processing Interface (“API”) architecture, Ferratum and Thomas Cook Money will be able to add further services and functionality to the platform over time.
Ferratum’s full service, all-in-one mobile bank is already available in Sweden, Norway, France, Germany and Spain. Launching in Sweden today, Ferratum will support Thomas Cook Money as the company expands the service across Thomas Cook’s other core markets in Europe, including the UK, from 2018.

Ferratum Group founder and CEO, Jorma Jokela, said:
“I am incredibly excited to be partnering with Thomas Cook Money, one of the most loved brands in the world. We built our mobile bank to ensure the customer experience is super quick and easy, while giving customers all the features they need to live their lives on the move. Thomas Cook Money is bringing that rich functionality to the travel market, which makes perfect sense.

“When it comes to financial services, the needs and expectations of consumers are evolving rapidly, but thanks to our open API platform approach Ferratum, and the brands we partner with, can respond with a scalable ecosystem of relevant features and services - all integrated into one single mobile banking solution - market by market, and brand by brand.”

Anth Mooney, Managing Director of Thomas Cook Money, said:
“We know holidays are a big investment which is why we’ve designed a service that makes it as easy as possible for our customers to plan and save all year round for their weeks in the sun and to spend their money on holiday with confidence. Sumo has all the security and services customers should expect of a traditional bank account, but because it has been designed with holidaymakers in mind, it includes some great added extras, from removing foreign loading fees on card transactions to offering four fee-free ATM withdrawals at home and overseas per month .”

“Working with Ferratum has given us an established, ground-breaking platform for mobile banking services, which we are developing for the future. Ferratum’s international reach is also a great fit for our biggest markets, ensuring we can roll out this service to more countries and more customers in time,” added Mooney.