Tandem CTO exits, as bank nears multi-million fresh funding round

Tandem CTO Paul Clark stepped down in January.

Tandem bank is close to securing a fresh round of funding, said to be near to £50m, as the digital bank makes a management change.

Tandem’s Chief Technical Officer (CTO) Paul Clark stepped down last month, the second CTO to leave the digital bank in the past three years. Clark has been replaced by Noam Zeigerson, Tandem's Chief Data Officer.

"We're moving to a phase where we're doing a lot more automation.. and Paul decided it was time for him to go and find another challenge," Tandem CEO Ricky Knox told Sifted magazine.

"We've had a good run together. [But] there are different profiles for different stages of development."

According to Sifted, Tandem is close to securing a fresh round of funding, near to £50m, which is short of Tandem's initial target of £100m and later than earmarked, according to sources.

Knox told Sifted the fundraise would be a "decent-sized" and help it meet its capital requirements.

Knox also revealed that Tandem was close to breaking even and said it was on track to be the first digital bank to break even.

According to Companies House, Tandem Bank Limited lost £13.6m in the year ending 31 December 2018.

Tandem, which was founded in 2014, offers savings accounts and credit cards. It now has nearly 1m customers.

In January this year, Tandem said it would be moving its flagship credit card to a paid membership model.

The recurring £5.99 fee comes with additional perks for cardholders, like a 1.5% instant access savings account and 0% interest on purchases, but will be compulsory for all existing Cashback Credit Card users from 9 March.

Knox called it an attempt for Tandem to make its offerings more "sustainable' and described the membership model as a "test".