Tandem Bank acquires Loop

With Tandem’s focus on helping consumers save, borrow, and spend a little bit greener, the addition of Loop to the bank’s digital offer will give customers a new way to borrow and lend from each other, while supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Launched in early 2022, Loop is a social network app focused exclusively on helping friends and family to easily and safely lend and borrow money with each other. Designed to improve the informal money-sharing market and break the social taboos around money sharing, Loop helps users avoid expensive bank overdraft charges, which are estimated to make traditional banks over GBP 2 billion in profit each year.

Loop will continue to operate as a standalone app and brand, with plans to embed Tandem products and features in the Loop app, offering users access to a wider range of savings and lending services.

Tandem Bank’s recent announcements

The acquisition of Loop follows a year of significant transformation for Tandem Bank.

In early 2022, Tandem acquired consumer finance lender Oplo. This led to significant growth in the bank’s lending assets, as well as the bank reaching profitability and refocusing its strategy on building the UK’s greener, digital bank.

The acquisition broadens Tandem’s product offering across a range of consumer lending products including first and second-charge mortgages, home improvement loans, car finance, and personal lending – building on the combined lending capabilities of both Oplo and Tandem.

Following the acquisition, Tandem Bank partnered with the online savings marketplace Raisin UK in order to expand its services and diversify its deposit-raising channels. This partnership aims to help UK citizens navigate through the cost-of-living crisis by making Tandem services more reachable through the Raisin marketplace.

Raisin offers its interest-bearing overnight and fixed-term deposits to its Europe and US clients at more than 160 international partner banks.

Lending made sustainable

Almost six million people are borrowing from friends and family each month, with an estimated GBP 12.5 billion of money being shared informally every year.

In addition, there are approximately GBP 10 billion of overdrafts outstanding at any one time, with around 30% of outstanding balances below GBP 50 and over 40% for less than a week.

With green savings, companies aim to tie in their savings products to eco-friendly and socially positive projects. These include carbon reduction efforts, tree-planting initiatives or renewable energy projects. In Tandem’s case, they support lowering the carbon footprint of individual homes, as highlighted in their website’s sustainability section. According to the bank’s own research, improving the energy efficiency of UK homes can help alleviate the cost of living, energy security and climate crises.