UK Fintech News Roundup: The Latest Stories 30/11

Every Wednesday we delve into the latest fintech updates from across the UK. This week there will be updates from Alveo, BT, Barclaycard, Intergiro, Klarna and Tandem Bank.

London has seen the biggest decline in ATMs since 2018

Swedish banking as a service provider Intergiro reveals which areas of the UK have seen the biggest decline in ATMs since 2018. The study looks at how the UK is moving towards a future of digital banking, reducing traditional services.

Since July 2018, the UK has lost 21 percent of its ATMs. This represents a significant 13,679 ATMs being closed. London is the region with the highest decline, with 25 per cent of traditional ATMs no longer operating. Despite this, the region still has 8.2 ATMs per 10,000 people; sits slightly above the national average of 7.8.

The South East currently has 6.7 ATMs per 10,000 residents, offering the lowest ratio in the UK. The region has seen 1,873 ATMs close since July 2018. Data for North-West Norway shows that 1,514 ATMs have closed down in the last four years, which corresponds to a reduction of 20 per cent in total.

Looking at the statistics for Northern Ireland, Intergiro found that traditional ATMs are not declining as quickly. There has been a decrease of 13 per cent, after losing 269 ATMs in total. The region has 9.6 ATMs per 10,000 people: the highest proportion of all regions assessed.

Klarna launches influencer platform in the UK

BNPL company Klarna has expanded its ‘Creator Platform’, to be launched in the UK along with other regions.

The platform matches retailers with appropriate influencers and tracks performance metrics in real time. The offering aims to enable retailers to better engage with target audiences and achieve higher ROI on influencer content. It also helps creators maximize their earning potential.

Martin Landen, head of social shopping at Klarna, spoke about the platform launch. He said: “Every minute creators spend on cumbersome admin is valuable time lost that could be spent creating engaging content.

“By providing access to affiliate partnerships, brand campaigns and gift activations with the world’s leading brands, Klarna empowers creators to monetize their influence at scale and focus on producing quality content. At the same time, Klarna helps retailers take the guesswork out of influencers -collaborate by identifying which talent fits their brand and which channels deliver the best results.”

Barclaycard offers business cashback on BT purchases

BT and Barclaycard payments has partnered to increase cashback for Barclaycard business customers. Small businesses will get 2 per cent to 10 per cent back on all expenses with BT and EE until 20 January 2023.

Within three months of the partnership starting, BT businesses have already saved over £10,000.

Lucinda Webster, director of small business at Barclaycard Payments said: “To support businesses with rising costs, we’re giving our existing and new customers 10 per cent cashback when they use BT and EE until 20 January 2023. That includes everything from spending on laptops , TV purchases for new phones. Just pay with your Barclaycard and we’ll do the rest.”

Alveo expands its data coverage

Cloud-based market data integration, analytics and Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) solution provider Alveo has added a number of new content from SIXthe infrastructure services provider, to its global data coverage and feed integrations.

Alveo’s data processing solutions link and cross-reference SIX’s content with client datasets or separately sourced third-party content. New content includes sentiment indicators, tax and regulatory risk data.

Sam Sundera, head of future financial information at SIX, gave his view on the news. Sundera commented: “Market participants increasingly need on-demand access to our vast catalog of global financial and investor protection-related data”

“Expanding our partnership with Alveo’s leading managed services and data analytics solutions enables these firms to quickly use critical asset-level data directly in investment operations and workflow applications.”

Tandem Bank offers carbon tracking

Supplier of carbon management solutions Cogo has made its carbon tracking app available on the green digital bank Tandem Bank msheet space.

The two companies have partnered to help Tandem’s customers manage the carbon footprint of their spending.

Emma Kisby, EMEA Head of Cogo, commented on the partnership. She said: “Partnering with a bank that aligns with our own company values ​​makes this a particularly exciting opportunity. Tandem Bank is challenging the way consumers think about finances and appealing to the next generation of greener banking customers. By offering Cogo to the market, Tandem retail customers could download our Cogo app to measure, understand and reduce their carbon footprint based on where and how they spend money, helping to tackle the climate crisis.”