IBS Journal April 2017
15
House of Fraser backs out of Tandem deal
multi-million pound investment in UK digital-only challeng- er Tandem Bank. It had been due to stump up £29 million to bolster the new entrant’s capital requirements for launch- ing as a full bank, but Sanpower, the Chinese conglomerate which owns House of Fraser, has pulled back, concerned about the increasing limitations placed on Chinese firms investing money abroad.
H
As a result, Tandem has decided to pause plans to offer savings accounts to customers. “This will not delay our launch to the market, with the app – which will allow cus- tomers to view all their money in one place and optimise their finances – still launching to the public in the coming months followed by credit cards later this year, subject to regulatory approval,” it says. “We will add saving accounts
ouse of Fraser has put the brakes on a
and current accounts back into the range of services we provide as soon as we feel the time is right for our custom- ers and our business.”
A fresh deal has not been ruled out. House of Fraser re- mains a minority shareholder after putting £6 million into the startup at the end of last year, whilst a plan to roll-out financial services products to its customer base “remains a priority for both House of Fraser and ourselves.”
Tandem’s funding stands at £39 million to date from the likes of Omidyar Network, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar’s venture capital firm, and Route 66 Ventures. It has also raised £1 million via crowdfunding.
Scott Thompson HDFC Bank unveils chatbot Eva
artificial intelligence-driven, customer services chatbot. This can instantly answer millions of customer queries about products and services across multiple channels, the bank says. “Within the first few days of its launch, Eva has
H DFC Bank has launched Eva, India’s first
answered over 1 lakh queries from thousands of customers from 17 countries across the globe,” it claims.
Plans are afoot for Eva to also handle banking transactions. Scott Thompson
www.ibsintelligence.com
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