EMEA Daily: Tandem Bank Joins Raisin UK Savings Marketplace; Egypt Startups Use Tech to Drive Food Industry Innovation

In today’s top news from Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Egyptian food sector startups are counting on digital solutions to drive growth, and Digital bank Tandem has joined the Raisin UK online savings marketplace.

UK Sees Surge in Pawnbroking as Inflation Continues to Rise

Higher living costs have created more demand from borrowers looking for small loans, leading a number of individuals in the United Kingdom to explore the options available through pawnbrokers.

As the Financial Times reported on Friday (July 29), listed companies offering “pledge lending,” or small loans secured on things like jewelry and watches, have experienced growth in sales and profits, adding to share prices.

For example, shares in the U.K.’s biggest pawnbroker, H&T Group, have risen by 37.6% this year.

As Macro Headwinds Mount, UK Neobanks Revisit the Profit vs Growth Debate

The rise of fully digital banks has been characterized by growth-first, profit-later business strategies. In May, a report by Simon Kucher and Partners estimated that less than 5% of neobanks globally had achieved break-even.

But no business can burn through venture capital forever. Eventually, even the U.K.’s neobanks, which have raised hundreds of millions in funding rounds, need to achieve long-term sustainable profitability.

As the U.K.’s biggest neobanks mature, PYMNTS takes a look at the numbers and considers their differing strategic approaches to the profit vs growth debate.

Egypt Startups Leverage Tech to Drive Food Industry Innovation for Consumers, Businesses

The ultrafast delivery model is still a relatively new concept in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, yet Egyptian startups are banking on digital solutions to drive business growth in the local and regional food sector, which has primarily operated offline and is in dire need of digitization to increase efficiency and productivity and lower costs.

PYMNTS has spoken to several entrepreneurs at the bleeding edge of Egypt’s nascent ultrafast delivery space and maps out the shape of the sector so far.

Tandem Bank Joins Raisin UK Savings Marketplace

Digital bank Tandem announced in a statement Monday (Aug. 1) that it has joined the Raisin UK online savings marketplace, initially offering U.K. customers access to its range of fixed-term savings products.

Tandem’s current suite of savings products extends across fixed rate and instant access; it is expected over time that additional Tandem savings products will be available via the Raisin online marketplace, the bank said on its website.

Raisin UK’s marketplace connects savers to a range of banks offering deposit-protected savings accounts, Raisin users can then shop around for the best interest rates terms, apply to open as many savings accounts as they like and manage everything under one roof.

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