Every Wednesday, we delve into the latest fintech updates from across the UK. This week brings updates from Tide, Plum, Nottingham Business School, Robert Walters and the Institute of Directors.
Tide launches enhanced SME accounting tool
Tide, the digital business financial platform, has launched its improved Tide Accounting tool. The enhanced tool is powered by Sage and helps small businesses meet their accounting needs directly from their bank account.
SMEs currently have to connect multiple solutions to their accounting software – their bank account, payments providers, payroll and more. Tide Accounting aims to streamline this process to enable its members to get paid, manage their bills, track their business performance and file taxes via an embedded accounting service directly from their Tide account.
The tool has now been upgraded to introduce standard accrual-based accounting – also becoming the first solution of its kind embedded in a bank account.
Vinay Ramani, chief product officer at Tide, said: “For small business owners, accounting can be very time-consuming and intimidating as they have to move transactions from their bank account to their accounting tools. Tide Accounting introduces accrual-based accounting embedded in a bank account – unlocking real convenience and ease of use without the stress and hassle. And once their accounting is done well – those businesses become more attractive for credit opportunities via the Tide Partner Credit marketplace.”
Plum turns newsreader
Smart money app Plum has added financial and business news functionality to its innovative investment platform.
Investors are now able to see a relevant selection of news in-app from highly regarded publications, featuring the latest updates from the companies they invest in. Plum aims to provide real-time insights about developments impacting customer assets, without the customer needing to leave the app and search for themselves.
Rachel Sondhi, product manager for investor experience at Plum, said: “We’re keen to give our customers access to the most useful tools to keep themselves informed as they continue their investment journey.
“Learning more about the context behind investment movements, or what’s going on behind the scenes at companies they invest in, can help investors to take a more active role in their portfolio management if they so wish.”
Nottingham Business School partners with financial services membership body
Nottingham Business School (NBS), part of Nottingham Trent University, has become a CISI Partner University. The news means NBS students will receive career boosts as the university collaborates with the financial services professional body.
The collaboration sees NBS students offered the opportunity to study for and sit Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) examinations during their course.
Kirsty Crosby, head of education development at CISI, said: “NBS and Nottingham Trent University are inspirational in their commitment to supporting students from challenging socio-economic backgrounds and we are privileged to be their partners.
“Our CISI Educational Trust programme will complement the excellent business and finance degrees NTU students study, offering them professional qualifications which will also give them a competitive edge in the world of work.”
London’s tech scene begins recovery
London’s technology sector is showing signs of recovery, following a rise in new tech job roles in June by 10.3 per cent on the previous month – and by 25.7 per cent in May.
The research from British recruitment firm Robert Walters also revealed that job creation for software developers and engineers has returned to pre-pandemic levels – which now accounts for 28 per cent of all London-tech roles that are currently advertised.
Ben Litvinoff, associate director of technology at Robert Walters, said: “Whilst it is great to see job volume increase in the past few months, it would be amiss to not acknowledge that demand for technology professional sky-rocketed during and post-pandemic – so a lot the decline we are seeing in roles is more so a levelling out process, where job vacancies now are on-par with what we saw pre-Covid.
“The early signs of job flow returning is linked to considered and business-critical hires, the return of transformation and change projects which may have been put on hold at the start of this year, and investor activity also slowly returning leading to a rise in demand for developers and infrastructure specialists.”
Business confidence remains low in the UK
Business confidence remains low among start-ups and SMEs ahead of the Bank of England’s 14th straight interest rate rise, according to a survey from the Institute of Directors (IoD).
Rising interest rates and continually increasing prices have led to business confidence remaining at minus 30 points, a one-point rise from June’s measure from the IoD.
Kitty Ussher, chief economist at the IoD, commented: “With inflation proving more persistent than was previously expected, and more firms starting to experience the negative impact of rising interest rates, there is a greater sense of caution in the air than in the spring.”
The post UK Fintech News Roundup: The Latest Stories 02/08 appeared first on The Fintech Times.
