Natwest to buy pension fintech firm in £144m ‘savings shake up’

CHARLIE CONCHIE

NATWEST is set to buy pensions fintech Cushon for £144m in a move aimed at bolstering the banks offering of “financial wellbeing” products. The FTSE 100 lender said it would take an 85 per cent stake in the London-based fintech, which has around 500,000 customers, while the company’s existing management would retain 15 per cent.

The chief of Natwest’s wealth business Peter Flavel said Cushon’s “disruptive proposition” would support customers as they “saved for the future and managed their financial wellbeing”.

He added: “On average, UK employees are due to outlive their savings by 10 years and we are committed to helping reduce this gap.”

The Treasury will today lay out rules to bring the likes of Klarna, Laybuy and Clearpay under the full remit of the Financial Conduct Authority and give the regulator the powers to pull firms’ authorisation to operate in the UK.

Rules around creditworthiness are also set to be applied to the sector, requiring BNPL firms to ramp up checks on consumers and issue credit that is “genuinely affordable”, the Treasury will reveal this morning. Consumers will also be allowed to take disputes over credit to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

In a statement last night, City minister Andrew Griffith said people should be able to access affordable credit, but “with clear protections in place”.

BNPL firms welcomed the update, with Klarna chief Alex Marsh telling City A.M. it was not “waiting for regulation” and would start implementing changes now.