UK carbon impact challenger Creed set to launch this year
Creed, a London-based digital challenger combining budgeting with carbon impact, is gearing up for its UK launch this year.
With its app “set to launch soon”, the start-up has just come to the end of its time on the Capital Enterprise incubator programme. Both JP Morgan and the Mayor of London have invested in Capital Enterprise.
Former Bank of America, UBS and Barclays exec Roshan George heads up the challenger
Creed already claims some 1,000 registered sign-ups, and it says its app is built to be compatible with 30 UK banks and credit.
Features include account aggregation, money, spending and carbon footprint tracking. It also includes expense planning and recommendations to reduce or offset your carbon emissions.
Roshan George, founder and CEO of Creed, is a former Bank of America, UBS and Barclays executive. Most recently, he led the global corporate and investment banking team at Merrill Lynch, Bank of America’s wealth management division.
“There’s plenty of budgeting apps,” 11:FS’s co-founder, Simon Taylor, said in a blog post. “There’s plenty of apps that help you see your carbon impact. This is the first I’ve seen put those two together in a PFM [personal financial management].”
Europe’s carbon-counting army
Other challengers in the UK’s carbon-conscious banking space include Picnic Bank, and Kestrl. Whilst Picnic Bank’s niche is “fintech for good”, which includes an “eco-concierge”, Kestrl focuses on “ethical banking” – be that an integrated carbon counter, or Sharia-compliant savings services.
GoHenry, the UK-based fintech offering a pre-paid card and app for kids with parental controls, unveiled its biodegradable card for eco-conscious youngsters last May.
But it’s not just digital challengers who are getting in on this trend. NatWest partnered with New Zealand-based fintech, CoGo, to launch an on-the-go carbon emissions calculator based on users’ personal spending.
In July, reports emerged that a new state-backed green bank is set to land in the UK to help finance the country’s net zero carbon goals.
Further afield, the European Central Bank (ECB) is launching a new climate change centre to coordinate its actions on tackling environmental issues.
Last September, France birthed Helios – a fintech firm focused on sustainability and transparency to allow users to offset their carbon footprint.
The same month, Spanish banking challenger Mitto – which targets the “conscious consumers” – announced it was gearing up for launch in the UK and the rest of the Eurozone sometime this year.
Longer-established challenger bunq, based out of the Netherlands, is edging further into the space too. Last year, it unveiled a carbon counter, as well as a tree-planting programme attached to its ‘Super Green’ and Green Card offerings.
Read next: ECB launches climate change unit
