Sorry this is so late after the Harrods Bank acquisition but @podgib just jogged my memory that I hadn’t yet managed to reconcile the news about Tandem buying Harrods Bank in my head. Does anyone understand the mechanics of that bizarre deal?
As far as I understood the situation - an almost broke and almost worthless Tandem (in terms of perceived market valuation- note: Tandem crowdfunding investors tried to dump shares for massive discounts) purchased Harrods Bank from Qatari investors for an undisclosed amount and received £80m cash from them, as well as a £200m loan book and £300m in customer deposits. How is that possible when Tandem had no money?
Could it be that the Harrods Bank sellers (for example/speculation) sold their business and pumped in £80m in exchange for a 50% stake in Tandem giving a £160m+ post market valuation and making the sale ‘worth’ at least £80m to them? That is all I can think of.
If anyone has a different understanding or conspiracy theory about how that deal is possible I would be really interested to hear it.
Whilst not a new idea in the slightest (I remember the Abbey branch on Strand in London had a Costa coffee shop in the branch 15 years ago) Lloyds and Nationwide are going for the ‘hub’ model in their city centre branches. To be fair, the photos look as if they could be Monzo’s (or any other tech startup’s) offices.
Is that the mobile implementation? Yep, that is rubbish. Intercom looks to be very good. My experience of Zendesk goes back to around the time the first iPhone was announced … perhaps before?
I’m currently in the process of manually transferring my direct debits from Starling to my Monzo current account. I forgot how much of a ball ache it is to do it myself!
Looking forward to getting it finished though and using my Monzo bank account full time. I just need an overdraft now!!!
Adding a coffee shop to your bank? This is about the dumbest idea ever, makes me speechless. Which user ever wanted that? Classic white board idea. With that kind of competition the challengers do not need to worry about the incumbents.
(Sorry if it sounds a bit harsh, really trying to find nice words for it. I guess they try at least…)
I actually got the same article on google now and saved it so I can post it in the evening, but you did that already. I was going to ridicule the idea that ‘perfect banking’ just means making coffee for your customers… Banks in Poland made coffee ageees ago. Even my hair stylist in Poland makes me coffee.
Hands down, the dumbest of “we want to do something to still matter in 3 years time” ideas I had seen in recent times.
Starling Bank which launched their app-only current account in April and have gained tens of thousands of active customers will launch a business banking service early 2018.
Anyone used TenX yet? I was intrigued as they had only recently sprung up and already had more twitter followers than Monzo.
I downloaded the app on iOS and after navigating past some bugs and glitches I saw an interface that looked like Revolut but slicker. Looks like basically a geography-less currency account with a bias towards cryptocurrencies. It felt more like a spreadbetting account than anything else although I didn’t get to use it so can’t really confirm that.
I made it up to the screen asking for $15 (plus ongoing $3 annual fee) to get a card. Be interested to hear the thoughts of anyone who took the plunge?
net loss of £1m on interest payments buying customers
Banks in Poland made coffee ageees ago. Even my hair stylist in Poland makes me coffee.
