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UK Fintech News: The Latest Stories This Week 10/03

Each week, The Fintech Times takes a look at the top stories in British fintech. In today’s roundup, we look at the UK’s most wanted software for home working, the launch of two new companies in lending and investing, and how 20% of brits like the idea of a cashless society. 

The UK’s most wanted software for remote working

An Intact Software survey has revealed that Zoom is the UK’s most wanted software. In second place was Microsoft Teams, and in third was Skype – all three being popular conferencing software. Gathering data from Google, they have also found that employees prefer instant messaging to email or face-to-face contact, and are struggling to work remotely with communication tools at home.

Additionally, half of the surveyed employees reported a knowledge gap, saying they hadn’t received enough training. These knowledge gaps alongside insufficient software provision have led to a perceived lack of engagement and productivity from workers. Many feel they have the tools to do their job, but many say improved functionality would make remote working better.

Fintern Launches Consumer Lending Driven by AI and Open Banking.

The UK consumer lending market is worth £160bn, yet over 15 million people in the UK are denied access to affordable loans. In response, Fintern has launched to transform the financial well-being of people with an innovative and sustainable lending approach that goes beyond traditional credit scoring and puts affordability first.

Fintern’s next-generation credit technology bypasses credit scores in making lending decisions, focusing instead on affordability. Fintern builds relationships with customers helping them to understand how much they really need, how much they can afford to take on, and how they will repay. Fintern integrates its AI platform with Open Banking to smartly connect the dots in consumers’ banking data enabling Fintern to obtain the most accurate view of borrowers’ affordability and spending behaviour using real-time transaction information.

Gerald Chappell, CEO and co-founder of Fintern commented: “Fintern will help people to really understand what is affordable for them, rather than offering yet another faceless transactional process. Currently, lenders either lend money or don’t, and then don’t engage with the borrower again until the loan terms end or payments are missed.

“Our success as a lender lies in the ability of our customers to repay their loans. Our AI-powered technology helps us and all our customers to understand their finances in a deeper, more hands-on way than ever before. This approach allows us to increase approval rates, lower APRs and empower our customers to make the best and most responsible borrowing decisions for them.”

45% of people not confident about their retirement future

Glasgow based retirement tool Guiide has shared insights into the early indicator estimates from the Wealth and Assets Survey: Attitudes towards saving for retirement collected by the Office of National Statistics. The Survey has revealed that 45% of participants were not confident of their future standard of living in retirement.

Almost 60% expect to retire between 65-69, with 86% expecting to get a state pension in their retirement income. Despite worries, Guiide advised that even a modest total retirement pot if drawn down correctly with a suitable plan can support a minimum inflation-linked retirement lifestyle. For moderate and comfortable lifestyles, much greater sized pots are required, however, the amount needed can be reduced by more than half, if inflation linking isn’t required.

Two out of ten Brits would favour a cashless society

MoneyTransfers.com has analysed the latest data from YouGov, to discover which countries in the world would most be in favour of a cashless society. It was found that India is in the number one spot as an overwhelming 79% of Indians would like to have a cashless society in their country.

In the second position is Malaysia, where 65% of Malaysians are in support of having a cashless society in their country. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Indonesia are in joint third place, as 63% of citizens in each respective country believe becoming cashless will have a positive impact on their society and economy.

The United Kingdom is in 14th place, as 26% of Brits think going entirely cash-free would be a great decision for their country. Furthermore, 50% of Brits admit to paying in cashless often since the Covid-19 outbreak.

Interestingly the United States is joint 15th (alongside Sweden), as just 24% of Americans feel a cashless society would be a good thing for their country.

At the other end in 17th position is France, where only 18% of French citizens would welcome their country being entirely dependent on electronic forms of payment.

New North-East Investment Fintech Launches

North-East based fintech firm Quva has launched with the aim of digitally transforming the way private equity firms, venture capital funds and angel investment networks currently manage the end-to-end investment process. Its software platform streamlines the way alternative investment managers originate, transact and monitor their investment portfolios.

The software as a service (SaaS) business has been developed to enhance the investment management process and deliver a highly customisable, scalable and intuitive platform for alternative investment professionals.

Craig Peterson, co-founder and chief operating officer at GCV said: “Venture capital and private equity is a critical source of investment for the high growth businesses that drive innovation, job creation and economic growth.

“Our purpose is to help alternative investment managers drive efficiency and support value creation across the whole investment lifecycle, from deal origination, through to portfolio management and exit.”

Author

  • Polly is a journalist, content creator and general opinion holder from North Wales. She has written for a number of publications, usually hovering around the topics of fintech, tech, lifestyle and body positivity.

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