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Chetwood
Digitally native financial services
- 201-500 employees
- Fintech
- B2C
- Banking
- Financial Services
- Wrexham, UK
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Company mission
To challenge every aspect of how financial services firms operate today.
Our take
Consumer frustration with traditional banking is rising steadily. Chetwood is one of a crop of digital-led financial services companies looking to take a more customer-centric approach to banking.
Chetwood markets itself as a digitally native bank which creates targeted products that are designed to better serve individual customers' needs. The company was founded by a former HSBC and Bank of America executive, which has helped Chetwood to identify crucially underserved sectors of the banking market. In 2022, Chetwood acquired long-term partner Yobota, which has allowed it to expand its BaaS offerings considerably.
Digital banking is a fast-growing and incredibly competitive market, and Chetwood will have to compete with both legacy banks (which are becoming increasingly digitised) and new disruptors, such as Zopa and Tymit. However, the company has displayed impressive agility and ambition. For example, Chetwood released its challenger credit card Wave in 2022. With its flexible approach to late payments, Wave is likely to attract a considerable user base in the coming years.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Benefits
- Monthly social events
- Life insurance
- Pension
- Private medical insurance (incl. dental & vision)
- Free breakfast & drinks
Company values
- That a target market should be a target market - We know that customers have different needs. So, instead of creating one product to try and address them all, we create specific products for individual groups of customers. We do this so we can create better products for our customers
- That banking products are too generic - Sure, there are a lot more apps out there, but the fundamental products are just the same. We want our products to be dynamic, so we built the world’s first Reward Loan, where the rate reduces as the credit score increases
- In clear, conduct-friendly product design - We design every element of our products, reviewing each feature and re-assessing its value. We’re clear and transparent. We test every part of the journey and every line of copy with our target market until we’re certain they clearly understand it
- That technology can hold you back - That’s why we build ours from scratch. We use a low cost, full stack banking model leveraging a cloud-based supply chain of partners. This gives us the flexibility to stand up new products quickly and to change features and pricing in real time
- That digital should be cheaper - Our costs are kept low by using serverless technologies to support extreme digital journeys. We offer pre-approved, real rate journeys, with digital contact only through onboarding and servicing. This keeps costs low for our customers.
- That you can never have too much data - At the core of all our products is leading data and analytics capabilities. Data, AI and machine learning enhance our decision making and deliver better returns. For our customers, data-sharing with partners enables a seamless one-click buying journey
Funding (2 rounds)
Aug 2020
$12.7m
GROWTH EQUITY VC
Mar 2018
$63.3m
GROWTH EQUITY VC
Total funding: $76m
Leadership
Andy Mielczarek
(CEO)Previously worked as the Head of Customer Service at HSBC, and was CFO of Marks and Spencer Financial Services. Also worked as First VP of Commercial Finance for Bank of America.