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THE BIG INTERVIEW Natural banking 2.0


IBS Journal checks in with Tandem Co-Founders Matt Cooper and Ricky Knox (pictured) to find out what makes them different to High Street banks and other new digital-only entrants


Interview by Alex Hamilton


together to found Tandem? I


Matt Cooper: Ricky and I got talking a couple of years ago. I was looking into financial services and was seeing that it was a lot more receptive [to new ideas]. There was a lot of customer frustration and not a lot of competition for something that could be revolutionary. So we’ve been at this for two years and got our licence in November.


Ricky Knox: We saw the opportunity to do two main things. One was to build a business for the next five to ten years based on the wave of disruption that had been flowing through payments, peer-to-peer lending and the banking industry. The second was a feeling of wanting to turn up at work and feel like


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BS Journal: So what brought the two of you


we were doing something good – there’s a reflection of that in the way younger people feel towards the sector.


IBS Journal: What is the inspiration behind Tandem?


MC: Everyone is talking about digital banking, digital disruption and the rise of FinTech. What we saw was that a lot of new banks and also a lot of FinTech businesses were sort of more convenient but at their heart were the same as they always had been. They’re manufacturing products and trying to sell them to you. Banks make money when their customers make bad decisions – when they don’t pay off loans, when they go into their overdrafts and when they don’t remember to switch to the best product available. We saw the opportunity to build a business that lets you take care of the customer and profits when they do. Banking doesn’t need someone pointing their finger at you when you’ve done something


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