Tandem Bank acquires £100m mortgage book from Bank and Clients
UK challenger, Tandem Bank, has acquired the £100 million mortgage book of private banking firm, Bank and Clients.
Tandem has switched focus from credit to mortgages
The transaction completes on 22 February, with the 300 or so clients in the book officially becoming Tandem customers.
Tandem says the clients will see no changes to the terms and conditions of their mortgages, and the transition will be “disruption free”.
Bank and Clients formed from the 2014 combination of retail bank Church House Trust and specialist corporate lender Ocean Capital.
Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait concluded a full acquisition agreement for the private bank in January 2020. Though the deal appears to have stalled, Bank and Clients states it no longer offers mortgages or savings.
Tandem’s purchase comes as it seeks to differentiate itself from the rest of the challenger bank pack in the UK.
Switching tactics
A day before its new clients make their February switch, Tandem will shut down its cashback credit card for good.
The challenger sent a note to its users in September 2020 that it had “tried to make our credit cards work” but hadn’t succeeded.
Rebranding itself as “The Good Green Bank”, Tandem has focused on environmental banking and lending.
In August, Tandem closed its acquisition of green lender Allium in a bid to become one of the first “green digital banks”.
It switched from a credit-focused strategy to one focused on lending and mortgages in both the buy-to-let and home ownership spheres.
Tandem CEO, Ricky Knox, promised the new move would prevent his firm from falling into losses. Last month, it posted losses of £18.9 million in 2019, up 38% from the previous year.
Its income, driven by its unsecured lending growth, increased to £24.8 million. The challenger cited “material uncertainty” in the market, particularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Related: UK carbon impact challenger Creed set to launch this year
