Lloyds Banking Group Plc could buy more financial technology companies to bolster its digital offering, CEO Charlie Nunn told Bloomberg TV.
The bank has already agreed to buy wealth platform Embark Group and protection firm Cavendish Online in the past year or so, and in terms of more acquisitions would “definitely continue to look at those as we go forward,” according to Nunn.
Any bolt-on deals would need to improve Lloyds’ core business, which is building new digital offerings “in a way no fintech can,” Nunn said in an interview after Lloyds reported better-than-expected earnings. Lloyds boasts more than 19 million online users and says it is the U.K.’s largest digital bank.
The bank has partnered with Swedish fintech Minna Technologies to help customers manage their spending on subscriptions via its app, amid the highest inflation in Britain for four decades. Between June 2021 and March 2022, users halted 1.2 million regular payments, with streaming services making up the bulk of this. About 2.2 million subscriptions have now been canceled.
“There is a sub-segment in the UK that are going through a really challenging time,” Nunn said. “20 percent are having to really adapt their spending to make the space for the increase in costs and energy, foods and fuel, but circa 1 percent can’t make ends meet and that’s where we’re focused.”
Lloyds has also said it’s monitoring developments in buy now, pay later credit, but so far has avoided the fast-growing market popularized by the likes of Klarna Bank AB. Rival NatWest Group Plc became the first U.K. high street bank to offer BNPL services this summer.
