The Paypers

The authorisation’s restrictions mean that Kroo, which plans to launch in 2022 can accept deposits up to GBP 50,000 in total in the near term. So far, the bank says it has ‘grown organically’ since its inception in 2019 to have 5,000 prepaid cardholders (an e-money product), with 20,000 monthly transactions on the platform.

It recently closed a GBP 17.7 million investment, taking total funding raised to over GBP 30 million. Kroo aims to be what it calls ‘a social bank’, removing the friction from financial interactions with family and friends.

Kroo also recently launched a customer tree-planting referral scheme in June 2021 and has pledged to donate a percentage of its profits to social causes. To meet regulators’ demands during the application process for a banking license involves submitting a regulatory business plan alongside a number of policies and key documents, capital and liquidity assessments approval, and attending in-depth feed-back ‘challenge sessions’.

Kroo receives UK banking licence