Every Wednesday, we delve into the latest fintech updates from across the UK. This week brings updates from Coadec, MoneyTransfers, Ceridian, DivideBuy, Acquired.com, Monneo, Project:Hack and more.
Coadec sends plea to UK government in open letter
Startup ecosystem Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec) has urged the government to preserve support for UK startups.
Coadec published an open letter signed by over 60 tech founders and ecosystem leaders addressed to the government. The letter asks the government to commit to a range of objectives to support the growth of UK startups.
Dom Hallas, executive director of Coadec, explained the startup’s need for government support. He said: “Amid economic turbulence, startup founders need help more than ever. This means [the] government backing the ecosystem more – not pulling away. We want to ensure that if changes to support do occur, the things startups value most, including the special visa system for tech, are protected.”
One in four Londoners has no savings
Money transfer providers comparison site MoneyTransfers, reveals that as many as one in four Londoners do not have any savings.
Using stats found by Statista, the site shows that 22 per cent of London’s men had no savings, while around 28 per cent of women had been unable to save.
In similar news, HR technology provider Ceridian has revealed that over half (53 per cent) of UK employees have found that managing finances has become more difficult over the last year.
Ceridian assessed the opinions of over 1,000 UK employees, also finding that 75 per cent of respondents would consider working for an employer that offers a solution to access wages as they earn them, over an employer that doesn’t.
Sixty-one per cent of respondents between the ages of 18 to 34 said that an unexpected expense of less than £500 would prevent them from being able to pay their other financial obligations. This could stop people from paying for housing, insurance, childcare, or utilities. In response, the provider has released the ‘Dayforce Wallet‘, an on-demand pay solution, in the UK.
DivideBuy and Acquired.com pair to improve the customer payment experience
DivideBuy, a point of sale (PoS) solution provider, has partnered with Acquired.com, a payment initiation service provider and acquirer. The UK-based companies aim to reduce the number of failed transactions and offer smoother payment experiences to customers.
DivideBuy is to use Acquired’s gateway and machine learning services to optimise payments. It will use the services to route transactions through different payment rails to increase acceptance rates for merchants.
Mark Johnson, commercial director at Acquired.com, further explained the aims of the partnership. He said: “Acquired.com is ideally placed to support DivideBuy’s payment processing needs at a very exciting time for the business. Our industry-leading payment solutions are built for scale and are supported by an unrivalled customer support team. We are looking forward to working closely with DivideBuy to further their customer-centric approach to interest-free credit and transform their payments ecosystem as they grow”.
Monneo settles in Mayfair
Payment ecosystem provider Monneo has opened a new office in Mayfair, London following a period of international expansion.
The provider recently took home the ‘Best Cross-Border Payments Service’ category from the recent Payments Awards 2022.
Lili Metodieva, managing director of Monneo commented: “We are really excited to open our new London office in the famous Mayfair region. As a company, we’ve long held a presence within the UK through our Reading headquarters but have felt a need to expand within this key geography for some time. Now, we’re delighted to have made that ambition a reality.
Hackathon comes to Tottenham Hotspur Football Stadium
Project:Hack, a project data hackathon founded by Projecting Success, is to return. This time at the Tottenham Hotspur Football Stadium on 28 and 29 November.
The not-for-profit hacking event aims to bring project and data professionals together with students to encourage the development of new solutions. Project:Hack has now been delivered 16 times, with £11,000 in charity donations.
Martin Paver, CEO & founder of Projecting Success, said: “Although many cross-sector digital initiatives drive change, at a macro level, there is a lack of ambition to truly transform how projects are managed and delivered. We aspire to change this by showing the art of the possible with data and building real solutions to real project challenges.”
