Fintech marketplace in talks with P2P firms
A FINANCIAL Conduct Authority (FCA)-backed fintech aggregator is in talks with the UK’s largest peer-to-peer lenders to bring them on board.
Bud is a new online platform and app that enables consumers to manage their financial products on a single dashboard. This includes bank accounts, pensions, mortgages and investments.
“The idea is to simplify the whole process,” Jamie Campbell, head of customer experience at Bud, told Peer-to-Peer Finance News. “We absolutely welcome peer-to-peer lenders to integrate with the platform and we’re already in talks with the largest ones.”
Campbell would not disclose the names of the platforms the company has been in talks with, but said the company’s strategy was to target the major players in each sector before going to the more niche firms.
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Bud is one of the start-ups that was recently selected by the FCA for its “regulatory sandbox” – part of the City regulator’s initiative to support fintech innovators. The regulatory sandbox aims to create a ‘safe space’ where start-ups can test out their business models in a live environment without fear of FCA punishment if something goes wrong.
Bud kicked off its beta launch at the start of November with one part of its product, providing bank account aggregation and analytics, with the full launch of its financial service marketplace coming soon.
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The London-based start-up already has 35 partners signed up to its marketplace, including Nutmeg, PensionBee and Western Union.
The company has been self-funded so far, raising £300,000 to start the business. Campbell said they are looking to raise a further £750,000 from external investors before Christmas and are talking to venture capitalists, family offices and angels.