Paul Pester, the former TSB chief executive who resigned after the bank’s terrible IT collapse, is preparing to build a social networking app having FinTech features that would allow friends and family to transfer money.
Pester has teamed up with Anthony Thomson, the creator of Metro Bank and Atom Bank, and Matthew Donaldson, the former CEO of CompareTheMarket, to launch Loop, which began beta testing last week.
Loop had obtained a round of seed money from a group of affluent investors, according to city sources, and was currently preparing for a larger Series A fundraising round in early 2022.
Customers who register for the programme, which is first geared at students and young professionals, will be able to form a social network having FinTech features that allows them to effortlessly swap money with one another.
Mr. Pester and his co-investors are said to have noticed a growing trend of informal money-sharing among family and friends, estimated to be worth more than £12.5 billion per year in the UK alone.
During the pandemic, the trend accelerated, with tens of millions of people on furlough and increased job market uncertainty, while lockdown limitations made it more difficult to see relatives and friends.
Pester left TSB in 2018 after a botched upgrade to a new computer system from Spansish parent Banco Sabadell resulted in months of poor service and internet outages for clients.
Pester became known as the public face of the crisis, being grilled by lawmakers in Parliamentary hearings and chastised by the FCA for not being completely honest about the bank’s troubles.
Pester has been on the advisory board of the advocacy group Fairer Finance since his resignation, and has advised private equity firms such as KKR and Pollen Street Capital on financial services ventures.
In other news, Debbie Crosbie, who took over as CEO of TSB after Pester, has landed a new job as the first female CEO of Nationwide Building Society.
To read our latest blog on Abacum, click here.
