Harrods move opens the doors for Tandem

Start-up lender Tandem has snapped up Harrods Bank for an undisclosed price in a deal that will bring it closer to launching a savings account.

The deal will hand the online-only lender £80 million of additional capital and enable it to regain its banking licence, if it wins regulatory backing.

The move is a bright spot amid a turbulent year for the firm, which saw it lose its banking licence after the Chinese owners of House of Fraser – Sanpower Group – pulled £29m worth of funding.

Tandem founder Ricky Knox said: “Tandem has been built from the ground up with the help of over 11,000 co-founders, who have helped us shape products and services that make a difference to their lives.

“This acquisition will allow us to scale the business and ensure we can introduce as many people as possible to a new way of banking.”

Tandem was founded in 2014 and has 80 staff. It has no high street branches and gives customers access to their accounts through a smartphone app.