BGL Group acquires Bean

BGL Group announced its plans to purchase Saverd Ltd, the company behind personal finance app Bean. Founded in 2016 by Peter Myatt and Jamie Curran, London-based Bean is backed by Barclays Accelerator, and offers a digital personal finance manager which gives customers the ability to find, track and manage their bills and subscriptions in one app by linking to their bank accounts.

Following the acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approvals, Bean’s team will join BGL to further develop the Bean platform and add new capabilities to support the group’s digital aspirations.

“We are committed to exploring new opportunities which are the right fit for the Group, and there’s a natural synergy between BGL’s track record for digital innovation and price comparison and the emerging Open Banking sector. Peter, Jamie and the team have huge talent and a good start up product in Bean. I see great potential in Open Banking to help our customers compare, switch and save, and I’m very much looking forward to working with the Bean team as we explore both the product and the wider sector further.” – CEO of BGL Group, Matthew Donaldson.

“We’ve had a fantastic journey building Bean over the past two years, and we’re really proud of what we’ve created and how we are helping people manage their regular spending. We know that Open Banking offers a wealth of opportunity, and combining Bean with BGL’s scale and distribution expertise is the perfect way for us to unlock the potential of this business and bring the benefits to more customers.” – Founder and CEO of Bean, Peter Myatt.

Bottom Line: Following the footsteps of ING and Marcus by Goldman Sachs because users > customers.