Tag Archives: Fintech

News

Incomlend Invoice Financing Programme Helps China-based Packaging Manufacturer  Capitalise on Global E-commerce Boom

Global invoice financing marketplace, Incomlend, announced an invoice financing facility for an established China-based company in the packaging manufacturing sector. The solution allows the manufacturer to finance the increased production of mailer packaging and capture more revenue opportunities as delivery services flourish across e-commerce during Covid-19. 

Traditionally, the manufacturer can take up to 90 days to cash in an invoice. Incomlend offers a quick turnaround invoice financing solution that can free up working capital for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), such as the packaging manufacturer, to cash in an invoice as early as three days after goods are shipped. Founded in Singapore and with offices in Europe, India, and Southeast Asia, Incomlend connects SMEs globally with communities of investors, enabling them to buy and sell individual invoices in an invoice exchange platform.

Most of the packaging manufacturer’s current clients are based in the United States. They include a leading sourcing service provider that works with some of the world’s biggest e-commerce and retail players. With access to cash flow, the manufacturer can now use the funding to accelerate its production momentum and significantly boost its output. Due to the unprecedented surge in e-commerce, the company predicts its output value will more than double in 2021, compared to last year.   

E-commerce has experienced a worldwide boom since the onset of the pandemic. The sector is seeing a surge in online sales as retail closed its doors in many markets. According to Statista, over 2.1 billion people worldwide will purchase goods and services online in 2021, up from 1.7 billion in 2016. This reflects a demand uptick for packaging products from e-commerce players. 

Incomlend CEO and Co-founder Morgan Terigi said: “E-commerce and delivery activities have surged dramatically over the last year. We see no signs of this trend stopping even as retailers gradually re-open their brick-and-mortar stores. Our quick turnaround invoice financing solutions are designed to empower SMEs with growth ambitions, presenting a future full of new revenue opportunities for packaging players. We provide them with the funding they need to rapidly scale up their operations and capture a larger slice of this growing market.”

Headquartered in Singapore, Incomlend gives SMEs access to technology-enabled working capital solutions that industry-leading institutional investors support. The company’s scalable business model also gives accredited and institutional investors access to international trade invoices with stable and steady, risk-adjusted returns. Since it started operations in 2016, Incomlend has financed over USD500 million (CHF 451 million) in trades across 50 countries worldwide. 

For more information on Incomlend, please visit https://www.incomlend.com/.

 

 

News

Incomlend Provides USD2.5 million (CHF2.2 million) Invoice Financing Programme for India-based Apparel Manufacturer to Capture Revenue Opportunities

Quick Turnaround Factoring Facility to Safeguard the Manufacturer 

from Credit Risks Amid Pandemic-related Complications

 

United Kingdom – Global invoice financing marketplace Incomlend today announced a USD2.5 million (CHF2.2 million) invoice financing programme for a leading Indian apparel manufacturer. The initiative will bolster the manufacturer’s production and exportation capabilities, safeguarding its vital revenue streams with customers, including fashion retailers across Europe, the USA and the Asia Pacific.

Based in Singapore and with offices in Europe, India, and Southeast Asia, Incomlend connects small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with communities of investors, enabling them to buy and sell individual invoices online.

The working capital solution provided by Incomlend will enable the apparel manufacturer, which operates eight manufacturing plants, to safeguard its financial health and maintain manufacturing operations to capture new revenue opportunities. It will also allow the manufacturer to protect itself from credit risks and heightened volatility in the retail space, especially when many brick-and-mortar retail stores remain under threat due to the pandemic.

The move came when the manufacturer received a request from one of its key customers in Europe to lengthen the payment terms from 75 days to 120 days to ease cash flow against a challenging setting where the pandemic impacted several branches.

 

The apparel manufacturer will now be able to cash in an invoice as early as three days following the shipment of products. The retailer (importer) will have the option of paying for the shipment’s invoice value up to 120 days later.

 

Since it started operations in 2016, Incomlend has financed over USD500 million (CHF451 million) in trades across 50 countries worldwide. As companies continue to navigate the disrupted and volatile business environment, competitive and alternative working capital such as the Incomlend Invoice Financing Programme will play a crucial role in helping companies maintain their financial health and business continuity. The programme will also provide companies with the capital to capture new opportunities as economies recover.

 

According to research by Paris-based software company Sidetrade, more than 24% of invoices among European businesses remain unpaid ten or more days past their due date, representing an estimated CFH31 billion. Receiving cash for goods at an earlier time enables Incomlend users to maintain a healthy working capital to cover other aspects of their business, including the operational expenses.

 

Incomlend CEO and Co-founder Morgan Terigi commented:

“From supply chain disruptions to the ongoing closure of physical stores, the apparel industry continues to navigate the impact of COVID-19. Businesses in the sector face increased financial challenges, from limited cash flow to credit risks. With our extensive experience working with apparel manufacturers and fashion retailers, we understand the pain points that exporters and importers face in today’s pandemic climate. We offer our Invoice Financing Programme, a working capital solution to meet evolving business requirements and ultimately, a win-win situation for both exporter and importer.”

For more information on Incomlend, please visit https://www.incomlend.com/.

News

How the Fintech Sector in The UK Is Grappling with New Challenges?

The UK is one of the leading global hubs for the fintech sector, reinforced by its access to an international talent pool, solid investment, and growth, thus leading to a thriving ecosystem. UK-based fintech companies raised about US$ 4.1 billion in funding in 2020 and were one of the prominent sub-sectors driving growth in the broader financial sector in the UK.

The traditional financial sector in the UK is currently facing a dual pressure of tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit. In addition to these headwinds, traditional legacy banks and financial institutions have also been grappling with rising operating costs, changing customer behavior, regulatory challenges, and new technology.

Future of fintech

Despite the challenges faced by the broader economy due to the onset of the pandemic and Brexit, the use of innovation and technology helped startups in the fintech sector weather the storm.

And for the sector to continue to be a key driver of growth for the UK economy, it should focus on innovation in RegTech, which can target the ever-changing and evolving regulatory landscape and identifying new business models such as partnerships for developing the ecosystem further.

RegTech

As new players join the financial sector and provide users with greater access to banking services, there has been a rising need for financial services companies to tackle a very large amount of data and in ensuring compliance in a seamless manner. Building robust backend processes to address regulatory technology is the next big frontier for fintech firms.

Recently, the UK government has also made significant headway in terms of shaping a new regulatory framework for the financial sector due to Brexit. The Financial Services Bill received Royal Assent on 29 April and was converted into the Financial Services Act 2021. This act aims to develop a regulatory environment that allows for the advancement of technology and innovation.

Partnerships

There has been a small but growing number of legacy financial services companies and banks collaborating with nimbler fintech startups to identify ways to better adapt to the constantly changing business environment. According to consultancy firm Mckinsey, fintech companies with B2B offerings and services increased by 16 percent from 2011 to 2016, thus indicating a rise in partnerships.

The collaborative partnership model between fintech companies and traditional financial services organizations is mutually beneficial as the traditional banks and firms can develop useful tools such as financial money management tools and apps for depositing money for customers. On the other hand, startups benefit by being able to provide services to a larger client base and network. Moreover, partnerships have the ability to be more adaptable to customer behavior and can be scaled up or down depending on their response.

What’s next?

As the pandemic continues into the second year and is expected to persist for few more months, senior management and leaders in the financial sector are increasingly seeking flexible and responsive technology that can be deployed and adjusted to an everchanging business climate in the face of uncertainty. Thus, the next generation of fintech firms will have an even more focus on automation and streamlining processes, which can adapt quickly and effectively while primarily focusing on regulatory and compliance challenges and new business models.

Written by Kunal Sawhney, CEO, Kalkine Group

News

Scottish Equity Partners announces investment in AutoRek

Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has completed a significant growth equity investment in AutoRek, a leading provider of financial control, regulatory reporting and data management software. AutoRek’s cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) platform has experienced significant growth in the past three years and investment from SEP will enable the company to accelerate its product development plans and further extend its offering internationally.

The drive for greater integrity, transparency and accountability within the financial services sector has led to increased regulation of financial institutions and growing demand for AutoRek’s financial control and regulatory reporting solutions. AutoRek’s software automates high-volume reconciliation, exception management and data analysis workflows, delivering operational efficiency and improved governance of financial and regulatory risk. Partnering with SEP will support the company to further enhance its proposition to address a $2 billion plus per annum global regulatory and data management software market.

The deal was led by SEP Partner Andrew Davison and Angus Conroy, a Director at the firm. Both will join the AutoRek Board. Angus said: “AutoRek is a fast growing and capital efficient SaaS company, delivering business critical functionality to financial institutions across the asset management, banking and insurance sectors. The company has an excellent reputation in the financial and regulatory data management market and a strong focus on product innovation. We are pleased to be working with the management team to help them achieve their growth ambitions.”

Gordon McHarg, co-founder and CEO of AutoRek said: “We are delighted to have SEP on board as an investment partner to continue the successful evolution of the AutoRek business. SEP has extensive experience in the software sector and we are looking forward to working with them to build on our recent growth and to capitalise on the substantial opportunity within the global financial services market.”

Headquartered in Scotland, AutoRek employs more than 85 people across its Glasgow, Edinburgh and London offices.

Images: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s6duptgc3hltc45/AACGPN2JZCETp0Zvh-cjNBEea?dl=0

Please visit: www.sep.co.uk

FInance, Fintech, News

UK open banking fintech Yapily announces expansion in Vilnius

Yapily, a London-based fintech startup, has announced plans to set up in Vilnius, the company’s third European office. Yapily joins a growing number of UK fintechs including Revolut, Curve and Square that chose Lithuania as the location for its European hub.

Yapily was established in 2017, shortly after the EU’s second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) granted third-party access to customer data of financial institutions. The legislation, which aims to stimulate competition in the financial services market, compelled providers of such services to innovate their API and open banking practices. Stefano Vaccino, Founder and CEO of Yapily, used his extensive experience in fintech and commercial banking to create Yapily, a platform that enables companies to take advantage of open banking.

Yapily connects businesses to banks and financial institutions using a single open API. Using the platform, companies can access their customers’ account information and gain a holistic financial view without having to build and maintain hundreds of APIs of their own. Powered by a secure and regulated service, Yapily manages and facilitates the connection to fetch information and initiate payments while ensuring PSD2 compliance.

“Yapily makes connecting to banks easy through sharing financial data and payments infrastructure,” explains Stefano Vaccino. “We connect you to thousands of banks using an open banking API, taking care of the complexity behind the scenes”.

Yapily’s vision of open banking has attracted significant investment. Since its inception, the company has raised $18.4 million in VC funding. Yapily’s investors include Holtzbrinck Ventures, LocalGlobe and Lakestar, an early investor in Skype, Spotify, Airbnb and Facebook as well as some of Europe’s biggest fintechs – Klarna and Revolut.

Yapily now allows companies to connect to more than 600 banks, providing 80% account coverage across 15 European countries. The company boasts customers ranging from innovative fintechs to Fortune 500 companies including American Express, IBM, Intuit Quickbooks, GoCardless and BUX. In the last 12 months, Yapily has tripled its headcount and currently employs 72 people in offices in the UK and Germany.

According to Stefano Vaccino, Yapily’s current focus is to penetrate the European market. “This involves building a scalable platform while accelerating testing capabilities for our European users”,” he says.

Looking for a new European hub following the Brexit decision, Yapily considered several European locations, including Portugal and Germany. For the company, it was important to find a supportive regulator and fintech ecosystem. The expertise of Lithuanian developers; reputation of the country’s regulator; and a flourishing fintech scene all contributed to Yapily’s decision on Vilnius. It’s Lithuanian entity received regulatory license in December 2020, prior to the UK leaving the EU, and is now focused on its exciting expansion plans.

“Outside of the UK, Lithuania has the second largest fintech hub in Europe,” says Stefano Vaccino. “The local regulator plays a positive role in the fintech ecosystem, allowing Yapily to become a part of it.”

The company will hire up to 30 people in Vilnius in the coming months. Yapily is currently recruiting for compliance, engineering, product and operations roles.

“Open Banking will create a more competitive landscape of tailored financial services,” Mantas Katinas, Managing Director of Invest Lithuania, believes. “As more and more banks comply with the PSD2, Lithuania’s fintech community could be at the forefront of developing financial products leveraging this new access to data. Yapily’s choice to set up an office in Vilnius shows that Lithuania is an excellent base for cutting-edge fintechs.”

Fintech, News

Revolut launches Confirmation of Payee for UK customers

Revolut has announced the launch of Confirmation of Payee for its more than three million UK retail customers. This latest feature forms part of Pay.UK’s anti-fraud initiative and further bolsters Revolut’s already award-winning anti-fraud features.

Confirmation of Payee will give Revolut’s customers greater confidence that their payments are going to the right recipient whenever they pay a business or personal account. The new feature automatically checks that the recipient name and account details match the information held by the recipient’s bank or payment service provider, alerting the payer if there is a discrepancy.

The new feature helps to protect customers against Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud and helps avoid simple mistakes by alerting the payer if they have accidentally mistyped account details when setting up a beneficiary, which can result in payments being sent to the wrong place.

The launch of Confirmation of Payee is Revolut’s latest step to help prevent fraud. Throughout the past year, Revolut has been sharing guidance with customers on how to spot scams and keep their money protected from fraudsters. The FinTech is also part of Europol’s European Money Mule Action (EMMA) initiative which includes financial institutions and domestic and international law enforcement agencies across Europe.

Revolut’s Confirmation of Payee feature has been enabled by its payments partner Modulr. Modulr is one of the few non-banks to have direct access to the Bank of England payments infrastructure. The FinTech is Revolut’s long term payments partner, having also recently enabled Revolut’s UK customers to receive their salary one full working day early together.

Nik Storonsky, CEO and Founder at Revolut, said: “Revolut takes financial safety and security extremely seriously and our aim is always to provide our customers with the very latest in-app security features. Being able to automatically check that a recipient’s name and account details match the information held by their bank or payment service provider means that our customers benefit from an important new level of protection and can avoid simple mistakes. Thousands of people in the UK fall victim to social engineering scams every year and Confirmation of Payee is a crucial step in the ongoing battle against fraud.”

Myles Stephenson, CEO and Founder of Modulr said: “We’re committed to providing our partners, such as Revolut, with the very latest in payments innovation and I’m delighted that we were not only the first non-bank or building society to offer Confirmation of Payee, but that we are now the first payment services provider to be able to pass on this functionality to our PSP partners. Utilising our APIs and our participation with Pay.UK’s CoP service, Revolut can now offer its customers an important extra layer of financial protection.”

Maha El Dimachki, Chief Payments Officer of Pay.UK says: “We are delighted to see increasing numbers of people in the UK benefitting from Confirmation of Payee. The account name-checking service helps consumers avoid errors and fraudulent misdirection of their funds. It is another tool to support and protect consumers when making payments and has been gaining positive momentum since launch.”

To enable Confirmation of Payee, Revolut customers in the UK need to update the app to version 7.29.

To learn more visit: https://www.modulrfinance.com/

Finance and Banking, News, Wellbeing

Transforming Financial Services through Mindfulness in the Middle of the Pandemic

There has been a significant spike in demand for mindfulness programming since the start of the pandemic – but can the financial services industry really bank on the benefits being real? A new white paper from the Mindful Finance Institute shows how mindfulness can strengthen mental health, risk management and a culture of innovation and collaboration in financial services.

Including data from the first study of mindfulness in finance, over 400 financial services employees in the UK and Germany took part in the mindfulness-based workingMIND training that led to significant improvements in well-being, stress, focus and agility.

Friedhelm Boschert, Co-founder of the Mindful Finance Institute said: “Mindfulness unlocks human potential – even in the middle of a pandemic. Our White Paper connects the dots: It shows how and why mindset-change creates and sustains the much needed and upcoming transformation of the finance sector for our shared future.”

Including a HSBC Case Study: mindfulness in the time of Covid-19

Demand for HSBC’s mindfulness-based programming has grown steadily over the past years, with a significant spike in employee interest at the beginning of the first lockdown.
Using a blended model of internal Leader Champions and external partner trainers, they were able to quickly scale up the reach of their Mindfulness Foundations programme by five-fold, with more than 450 employees participating in the six-week training in April through May.

During a time when mental health levels plummeted in the general population4, a survey of participants found that resilience to stress and flourishing improved by 27 and 22 percent respectively.

John Hinshaw, Group Chief Operating Officer and global excecutive sponsor of HSBC’s Mindfulness Employee Resource Group, said: “I am heartened HSBC was able to respond so quickly to the COVID pandemic by scaling and mobilising the mindfulness programme begun by our employees. Ensuring everyone is able to be at their best at home and at work is a key part of our ambition to build a bank fit for the future. HSBC’s mindfulness practise clearly supports our colleagues wellbeing by enabling crucial skills such as resilience and creativity.“

HSBC’s Mindfulness employee network, first established in 2014, is an award-winning, employee-led initiative and community offering mindfulness services, resources and training to all HSBC employees. Since 2018, over 10,000 HSBC employees have participated in the bank’s mindfulness programmes, training and events.

Key findings: how to integrate mindfulness into corporate culture

Case studies by HSBC and NASPA, a Top-10 German savings bank, share recommendations about integrating mindfulness into their corporate culture in the white paper.

The core attention and emotion regulation skills that are associated with mindfulness training have a broad applicability for the financial sector:

• Banking cannot prosper within a culture of fear and stress. Reducing stress translates into increasing innovation.
• Employee wellbeing drives culture change. Employee wellbeing leads to better customer relations and is a characteristic of a resilient business (HSBC Navigator Report 2020).
• Effectiveness starts with paying attention. Increasing concentration while reducing multitasking is key to economic results.
• Psychologically safe collaboration and a new kind of risk culture can increase collective intelligence.

Chris Tamdjidi, co-founder of the Mindful Finance Institute, said: “The inner changes that are supported by practices like mindfulness can lead to insights into the kind of changes that we need to see in the financial sectors. Mindfulness starts by developing wellbeing and resilience but doesn’t stop there. The study results and research shows that the skills acquired can be applied to create a more sustainable future in finance.”

References

1. Full MFI white paper, MINDSET-CHANGE FOR TRANSFORMATION IN FINANCE, available here: https://www.mindful-finance.org/wp-content/uploads/White_Paper_-_Mindset-Change_for_Transformation_in_Finance.pdf

2. Infographic about white paper results: https://www.mindful-finance.org/wp-content/uploads/EN_Mindset-Change-Infographic-3.pdf

3. workingMIND study / 400 people in UK and Germany: Fully Minded – The Potential of Mindfulness in Financial Services. Awaris, 2020, available here: https://awaris.com/study-the-potential-of-mindfulness-in-financial-services/

4. Etheridge B, Spantig L. The Gender Gap in Mental Well-Being during the Covid-19 Outbreak: Evidence from the UK. Institute for Social and Economic Research; 2020, available here: https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/publications/working-papers/iser/2020-08

5. HSBC UK Case study, MINDSET-CHANGE FOR TRANSFORMATION IN FINANCE, Mindful Finance Institute, page 19
About the Mindful Finance Institute (MIFI)

The Mindful Finance Institute (MIFI) promotes the application of mindfulness in leadership, business and work in financial services. Founded in 2018, the Mindful Finance Institute’s mission is to unlock human potential in finance for the greater good.

Finance News, News

Open banking in 2020: Yapily data reveals Open Banking’s growth into the mainstream with banks making huge strides despite Covid-19

New data released by Yapily, the UK’s leading open banking network, has revealed how open banking connectivity has become a top priority for banks in the UK as we head into 2021.

The data reveals that despite disruption to banking operations caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, banks had matured in their open banking development once the industry had entered Q3, with response times closing on those of the digitally native neo banks, such as Monzo which averages 211ms in its response time.

Some of the UK’s top banking providers were analysed including: Santander UK, First Direct, Barclays, HSBC, Nationwide, M&S Bank, Lloyds, Halifax, Natwest, RBS and AIB.

Of the banks with slow response times at the beginning of the year, these times had been dramatically reduced the further we progressed into 2020; the average response time across all banks was 1154ms in February, but by the time OBIE announced there were two million active users of open banking, the majority of banks had closed the margin between their connectivity and that of the digital first neo banks to an average of 540ms.

Commenting, Stefano Vaccino, CEO and founder of Yapily said: “With recent research from OBIE finding that 50% of the UK’s small businesses are using services from open banking providers, having faster response times between banks and open banking partners are critical to deliver better services such as borrowing, accessing payments and more.

The data showed that the most improved bank was M&S Bank, which managed to reduce its response time from 1314ms to 632ms, although compared to its competitors its final response time was slower. Elsewhere, AIB ended the year with the fastest response time of 288ms, reduced from 991ms. Natwest, RBS and Halifax started the year with some of the fastest times in 2020, and remained near the top of the table through to the end of the year.

The full list of banks analysed are below and in the attached image:

1. AIB from 991ms to 288ms
2. Natwest from 539ms to 331ms
3. RBS reduced from 533ms to 334ms
4. Halifax from 492ms to 472ms
5. Lloyds from 529ms to 491ms
6. Nationwide from 481ms to 580ms
7. HSBC from 827ms to 592ms
8. Barclays from 1180ms to 599ms
9. First Direct from 1577ms to 604ms
10. M&S Bank from 1314ms to 632ms
11. Santander UK 1502ms to 1008ms

Vaccino continues: “2020 was a difficult year for many. And there were fears that the momentum generated last year with Open Banking would be stunted, but our data provides confidence within the industry. Open Banking is not only growing quickly, but it’s also being taken very seriously by traditional banks. And that’s shown by response times getting faster, indicating better connectivity.

“As we head into 2021, we expect open banking to really come into its own, as financial institutions look to launch and connect with new services aimed at giving customers better control, greater security and an improved experience.

“There will be a huge uplift in payments too, as merchants begin to understand the cost benefits that open banking can bring. With banks maturing in their approach to open banking, we’ll also see more movement towards open finance, which will lead to the growth of services geared towards offering more personalised and improved services such as lending, savings, insurance, pensions and more.”
Notes on the data:

The data was compiled and monitored throughout the year by Yapily’s API platform. The company’s open banking infrastructure is used by some of the world’s leading companies such as American Express, IBM, Intuit Quickbooks, IRIS and more.

Accounts and Accountancy, News

Modulr unveils Pathfinder programme ahead of the alpha launch of its revolutionary Payments Dashboard

Modulr, the payments as a service FinTech, has today announced the Alpha Launch of its Payments Dashboard and accountancy Pathfinder programme, as it gears up to revolutionise the way accountants and bookkeepers manage and make payments for their clients.

The new Payments Dashboard powered by Modulr will deliver greater control, visibility and access to payments capabilities for accountants through accounting and payroll platform connections, multi-step approvals, granular access control and workflow management. The Payments Dashboard forms part of Modulr’s commitments to delivering better banking and payments services to SMEs, funded by the £10m they were awarded from Pool C of the Capability and Innovation Fund (CIF) under the RBS Alternative Remedies Package.

The Payments Dashboard has been built with accountants and for accountants, with a shared belief that too many accountants and bookkeepers, and in turn their SME clients, are held back by slow systems and manual processes. Modulr brings the best technology the fintech sector has to offer, via its intuitive API, as a digital alternative to traditional banking and payments software.

As part of the Alpha Launch, the launch of the Pathfinder programme has seen key thinkers and well known professionals in the accountancy space sign up to be a part of building the future of accountancy innovation. This includes Lucy Cohen, Co-founder of Mazuma Accountants, the leading online accountants for SMEs; Lisa Newton, Founder of Boogles Bookkeeping, the award winning bookkeeping service; Shane Lukas, Managing Director at AVN, leading accountancy coaching and training experts; and Stephen Paul, Chief Executive Officer at Valued, the leading technology based accountancy firm.

Lucy Cohen, Co-Founder at Mazuma accountants, says: “As someone who works with small and micro businesses, I can see how payments can be a real pain point, which is why I wanted to join Modulr’s new Pathfinder programme to help solve this issue.

“Having a dashboard that gives you greater control and visibility, will enable businesses to greatly improve their efficiencies and allow them to concentrate on the parts of the business that drive growth. And for any business, systems like this sit at the core of sustainable growth and control. Getting involved in the Pathfinder programme allows me to help be part of the solution to a universal problem.”

Tom Kelly, strategic accountancy, payroll and employment services lead at Modulr at Modulr, comments: “We see accountants as allies in our bid to drastically improve the financial technology available to SMEs and their accountants today. SMEs have been poorly served when it comes to how their accountants access and manage their financial information and complex payment workflows that keep them running as usual. The slow, manual processes – due to integrations with business banks – are lacking real-time insight and workflow sophistication to be both valuable and useful for their day-to-day needs.

“Working with accountants across the industry, and software providers too, we’re building a product that will give businesses greater control, and their accountants proper and useful insights. All with the aim of driving better business performance and improved financial forecasting.”

To join Modulr’s new programme and become an accountancy pathfinder,
you can register your interest here (practitioners only): www.modulrfinance.com/accountancy-pathfinder

Christmas, News

Fintech Collection Pot introduces a new way to collect for teachers

Fintech Collection Pot has announced a new, easy way to collect for teachers’ Christmas gifts digitally, which gives the teacher a choice on what their gift will be.

From providing childcare for key worker families and delivering online learning to helping children settle back into the school environment, it has been an extraordinary year for teachers and many parents and carers are keen to show their appreciation with a special gift this festive season. But finding the right gift, and collecting for it in a covid-secure way, are both key considerations this year.

With Collection Pot, a digital Pot is created which parents and carers can contribute to online, adding a personal message from their family. Once the Pot closes, the teacher receives an email inviting them to spend their Pot. Pots can be redeemed on a range of national retailer gift cards, local gift cards or withdrawn to a UK/Ireland Visa debit card.

Receiving many of the same type of gift, such as toiletries and scented candles, can be an issue for teachers. Research suggests 62% of unneeded gifts go to charity. Gift cards are particularly favoured by teaching staff with 32% saying they would love to receive gift vouchers as gifts, whilst over 50% would like a personal note from their pupils or their parents/carers.

Gift cards increased in popularity in October 2020, with 35.9% of people buying gift cards for themselves or others, whilst gift cards that can be spent in a variety of places are increasing in popularity with 37.7% of gift card purchases being the multi-store type.

Available in the Collection Pot redemption catalogue are national retailers like John Lewis, M&S and Sainsbury’s, experiences like TUI, Virgin and Champneys, hospitality brands like Zizzi, Just Eat and Costa, plus local multi-venue Town and City Gift Cards that are available for over 50 towns and cities around the UK and Ireland.

Collection Pot has found that the average collected for a teachers’ Pot is £180, with the most popular redemption choice for teachers being a John Lewis or M&S Gift Card. There are no fees for people setting up Pots and no cost to redeem Pots either.

“Whilst all gifts are likely to be appreciated by teachers, having 30 gifts they don’t really want or need isn’t ideal, said founder of Collection Pot Wendy Carter:
“When they receive a Pot, a teacher might do their big Christmas shop, treat themselves to a spa day or enjoy a takeaway with their family. They may even decide to cash out to their Visa debit card. It’s about showing your appreciation and including that personal touch with a heartfelt message, but also giving teaching staff choice.

“This year, with social distancing in place and often staggered drop off and collection times, it isn’t going to be as easy to pass around an envelope for a teachers’ collection in the playground. Using Collection Pot saves time and hassle for the person organising the collection and it’s easy for parents and carers to get involved and show their thanks for teaching staff.”

To learn more, visit https://www.collectionpot.com/occasion/teacher/