Virgin Money Teams With Expense Management Firm Expend

U.K. financial services firm Virgin Money is teaming up with expense management startup Expend to help Virgin’s business customers better manage their companies, Business Matters reported on Wednesday (Jan. 5).

The partnership with London-headquartered Expend integrates expense management services into Virgin Money’s new business banking service. Launched in 2015, Expend aims to help small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) handle expenses while saving time and enhancing transparency.

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“Expend offers a service that we know will provide real value to our customers,” said Graeme Sands, interim head of business banking at Virgin Money. “Businesses want to be able to do tasks quicker and more effectively — and this expense management service is exactly the kind of help many of them need.

“Not only will it solve a core business pain point, but it will also enrich the data they have, giving an accurate view of their expenditure.”

Sands added that Virgin Money has been collaborating with FinTech partners to transform its business bank and its new “market-leading current account” for SMBs, called M Account for Business.

The Expend platform was developed to offer a scalable suite of solutions for SMBs in different stages of business. The startup is striving to connect banking and accounting processes so that businesses have a clearer picture of their financial status, and can also make better-informed decisions based on actionable data.

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“This partnership with Virgin Money is a real statement of our intent to bring powerful spend and expense management tools into the hands of small and medium businesses,” said Johnny Vowles, Expend founder and CEO.

“Being a part of this innovative project with Virgin Money is the perfect way for us to further our mission to truly automate complex processes for businesses to help maximize their time and money savings,” Vowles added.