NatWest has announced a minority investment in Yonder, a credit card platform that provides customer experiences through “lifestyle-led rewards.”
Yonder provides a financial lifestyle platform “that brings together people, money and experiences.”
Predominantly targeting young professionals and expats, their platform offers its members “a range of unique personalized rewards by partnering with local businesses and aspirational brands.”
The investment will help Yonder to “grow at speed and scale whilst accessing NatWest’s expertise as a bank with over 19m customers.”
The move reinforces NatWest’s commitment to supporting “customers to manage their finances effectively and deliver enhanced customer experiences.”
Through Yonder’s membership of millennials and GenZs, NatWest will continue to develop “approaches to personalization and loyalty rewards, as well as getting even more access to emerging trends with some of its most important customer segments.”
Ladi Greenstreet, Head of Strategic Investments at NatWest Group, said:
“Today’s consumer wants financial experiences that are personal, easy, and that seamlessly integrate into their daily lives. Our investment in Yonder reflects our belief in delivering better lifestyle experiences with financial tools that resonate with customers’ personal goals and aspirations. We’re looking forward to exploring new ways to deliver rewarding and responsible financial interactions that align with our customers’ evolving needs.”
Tim Chong, Founder & CEO of Yonder, said:
“We’re thrilled to welcome NatWest as an investor in Yonder. Their expertise and insights will be invaluable as we continue to grow and scale our platform. Together, we can redefine the future of consumer credit and deliver tailored financial services that meet the unique needs of our users.”
Sandi Royden, Head of Retail Banking Customer Propositions at NatWest, said:
“Our customers’ expectations are rightly changing all the time and it’s important we continue to understand their needs, personalise and deepen our positive customer experiences – which is the core way we think about innovation, engagement and proposition design as a bank. We’re looking forward to collaborating closely with Yonder to bring their insights and approaches to customer experience, engagement and reward to a wider audience.”
Driven by NatWest’s Innovation and Partnerships team, the minority stake in Yonder represents “a significant step in NatWest’s journey of collaborating with early-stage companies to drive innovation.”
The move follows recent strategic investments in businesses “such as Serene, an an early-stage AI platform dedicated to tackling financial vulnerability.”
NatWest is actively seeking investment opportunities “from seed-series B that are aligned to the bank’s strategic ambitions.”
The bank’s Innovation and Partnerships group has “expertise in supporting investments from proof of concepts to pilots and is welcoming interest for potential collaboration opportunities.”
