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Zilch is seeing over 10 million customer payments every month

Multi-year contract helps Zilch advance their financial infrastructure and accelerate towards their endgame of capturing total share of consumer wallet

Checkout.com selected for its global acquiring footprint, to fuel Zilch’s future expansion with high-performance payments

London, 3 April, 2024 – Zilch, the world’s first ad-subsidised payments network (ASPN), today announces it has selected Checkout.com, the digital payments solution provider, as its primary acquiring partner globally, with a particular focus on the UK and USA. With its payments network supporting over 145 currencies and domestic acquiring coverage in over 45 markets, Checkout.com will help Zilch continue to offer the fast and reliable high-performance payments that its expanding customer base has come to expect from its regulated payment network.

This appointment represents an important milestone in Zilch’s operations and technology strategy as it rapidly evolves to best support the company’s high growth. In February, Zilch expanded its consumer debit and credit offering with the launch of ‘Pay over 3 months’ in addition to ‘Pay over 6 weeks’, for its more than 3.6 million registered users. Customers use their Zilch card on average 100 times a year and now make more than 10 million payments per month with Zilch.

Philip Belamant, CEO & Co-Founder of Zilch, said: “Checkout.com’s innovation and robust track record in partnering with some of the world’s biggest companies made the decision to expand our partnership an easy one. Having worked together for over two years, I’m certain that this move will be a game changer in our tech stack and payments infrastructure.”

“In addition, Zilch is excited to partner with another leading UK fintech in Checkout.com. It’s testament to the strength of the UK’s amazing fintech ecosystem and is another reason why I am proud to be a founding Co-Chair of the recently launched Unicorn Council for UK Fintech.”

Guillaume Pousaz, Founder and CEO of Checkout.com, commented: “We are delighted to be working with Zilch, a category-leading fintech, to ensure that payments acquiring and processing is a business enabler and not a business distraction for Zilch as it successfully continues on its incredible growth journey. It’s an exciting moment to join forces in such a dynamic market where our technology is powering many of the world’s leading companies.”

— ENDS —

About Zilch

Zilch’s vision is to eliminate the cost of consumer credit. For good.

Today, Zilch is revolutionising the $50 trillion advertising and payments industries by merging the very best of debit, credit, and savings.

Zilch provides millions of customers the freedom to go anywhere in the world (online or offline) and, when they pay, earn up to 5% cashback & rewards on debit payments (‘Pay Now’) or spread interest-free credit repayments over six weeks or three months, and in the process help build their credit profiles with all the major credit agencies. Three years from launch, Zilch had amassed more than 3.6 million registered customers.

With the launch of its proprietary Ad-Subsidised-Payments Network (ASPN), Zilch allows retailers worldwide instant connection with millions of Zilch’s first-party data, closed loop network of high intent customers. Offering customers personalised savings, deals and discounts codified to their habitual spend.

In January 2023, Zilch struck a ground-breaking reporting agreement with the UK’s prime credit reference agencies, transforming the UK lending ecosystem by enabling 35m working adults to build their credit records using interest-free credit rather than high-cost revolving credit products.

Since April 2020, Zilch has been regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), obtaining a consumer credit licence through the Regulatory Sandbox Programme.

For more information, visit: www.zilch.com

Contacts

Zilch – Ryan Mendy, Chief Communications Officer: [email protected]

Media enquiries:

[email protected]

About Checkout.com

Checkout.com offers a high-performance, cloud-based payments platform that transforms payments into a significant revenue source for enterprises and scaling businesses. Its technology is built for flexibility, scalability, and efficiency, enabling seamless processing of payments, payouts, and card program management. Checkout.com is headquartered in London, with offices in New York, Paris, Dubai, Hong Kong, and other locations across six continents. Customers include global brands such as Sony, SHEIN, Wise, Patreon, and GE HealthCare.

Checkout.com. Where the world checks out.

Press contacts: [email protected]

Convening the CEOs and Founders of the largest UK FinTech businesses – unicorns and soonicorns, the Council aims to provide government with the crucial policy recommendations that will support and pioneer the growth of the sector

The Council will be co-chaired by Janine Hirt, CEO of Innovate Finance; Philip Belamant, CEO of Zilch and Charles McManus, CEO of ClearBank

London, March 4, 2024 – Innovate Finance, the independent industry body for UK FinTech, today launches the first Unicorn Council for UK FinTech (UCFT), a coalition of UK-based FinTech unicorn founders to accelerate and unlock promised growth in the UK FinTech sector. The Council will be co-chaired by Janine Hirt, CEO of Innovate Finance, and a steering committee of FinTech leaders including Philip Belamant, CEO of Zilch and Charles McManus, CEO of ClearBank.

The Unicorn Council for UK FinTech will provide the government with key policy recommendations to both protect and maintain the UK’s leading global position in FinTech ensuring the country successfully meets the investment and growth challenges over the next 10 years.

FinTech is a crucial strategic sector of the UK economy, contributing to the country’s innovation, productivity and growth. According to Innovate Finance’s latest FinTech Investment Landscape, despite decreased investments in the sector in 2023, the UK maintains its global leadership, securing more capital than the rest of Europe combined.

The Council has a focus on improving policy, perception and liquidity for the FinTech sector by amplifying a unified industry voice on the key priorities of CEOs, investors and board members to scale their FinTech organisations.

The Council will identify key prevailing issues for UK companies to truly scale-up and grow, and will have direct interaction with senior Government ministers and officials to provide recommendations as to how policy interventions can best help these companies. In turn, it will help unlock and drive greater direct foreign investment into the UK, enhancing our international competitiveness.

Co Chairs:

Philip Belamant, CEO, Zilch
Janine Hirt, CEO, Innovate Finance
Charles McManus, CEO, ClearBank

Sample of members included are:

TS Anil, CEO of Monzo
Justin Basini, CEO of ClearScore
Shachar Bialick, CEO of Curve
Francesca Carlesi, UK CEO of Revolut
Richard Davies, CEO of Allica Bank
Iana Dimitrova, CEO of Openpayd
Alasdair Haynes, CEO of Acquis Exchange
Myles Stephenson, CEO of Modulr
Rob Straathof, CEO of Liberis
Louise Hill, CEO of GoHenry
Jaidev Janardana, CEO of Zopa
Antony Jenkins CBE, CEO of 10xBanking
Rishi Khosla OBE, CEO of OakNorth Bank
Vishal Marria, CEO of Quantexa
Francesco Simoneschi, CEO of TrueLayer
Paul Taylor, Thought Machine

The Council’s ExCo will be chaired by Mike Carter, Senior Policy Advisor at Innovate Finance and Ryan Mendy, Chief Communications Officer at Zilch. In addition, the Unicorn Council for UK FinTech will at various points come together with the Startup Coalition’s Unicorn Project for Tech, also launched today, to create a first-of-its-kind umbrella forum for UK unicorns across all sectors, and united voice for Britain’s foremost innovators at the highest levels of government and policy making. Both Innovate Finance and the Startup Coalition focus on delivering the best policy environment for Britain’s leading tech companies in their core constituencies – FinTech and non-fintech respectively – and the organisations look forward to working together to get these companies the policy change they require to scale to even greater heights.

Janine Hirt, CEO of Innovate Finance, said: “In the last few years UK FinTech has shown resilience by maintaining its position as a global hub for investment, second in the world behind only the US, and maintaining the leading position in Europe.

However, to maintain our leadership we need to accelerate our work with industry, government and regulators to ensure the necessary support for growth tech companies, including proactive regulation and increased investment.

Today we are delighted to launch the Unicorn Council for UK FinTech to unlock the growth in the UK FinTech sector, support the innovators and industry change makers, and attract investment.”

Philip Belamant, CEO and Co-Founder of Zilch, said: “As a proudly British-born company, we’re excited to co-found this dedicated council for UK unicorns. This is a chance to redefine how global investors see the distinct value of investing in the high growth, UK FinTech sector.

We’re talking about changing policies and perceptions that flip the script on how founders think about scaling in the UK and beyond. I’m looking forward to this unique opportunity to work closely with the industry’s best companies and Innovate Finance, to craft the policy playbook that outlines what the government, regulators and the broader ecosystem need to address if our generation of fintech businesses are to thrive on a global stage.”

The Unicorn Council will be a subset of the Innovate Finance FinTech Strategy Group, and will work with established organisations including the the Capital Markets Industry Taskforce (CMIT).

Julia Hoggett, CEO of the London Stock Exchange, engaged on the Capital Markets Industry Taskforce, said: “We welcome the creation of the Unicorn Council for UK FinTech and we remain committed to work with the Council on matters of shared interest to support the growth of the sector.”

Dom Hallas, Executive Director of the Startup Coalition, said: “We’re delighted to support Innovate Finance’s Unicorn Council for UK FinTech in line with the Startup Coalition’s Unicorn Project. We look forward to all working together to get these and future UK tech companies the serious policy change they require to scale to even greater heights.”

Ryan Mendy, CCO of Zilch, said: “Envision the Unicorn Council as a colossal £50 billion plus conveyor belt, propelling today’s privately held entities into the limelight as tomorrow’s publicly held giants. Outside the US, the UK is the undisputed first choice for global businesses to IPO their successful ventures. The genesis of the Unicorn Council emerged from a vision Zilch had to forge a groundbreaking, unified voice for FinTech CEOs and Founders with future-proof policies that match the needs of their high growth businesses. This will help Ministers make the strategic policy moves that will catapult the UK back into the global economic powerhouse it desires to be.”

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Notes to Editor

For more information about the Unicorn Council for UK FInTech and to get involved please connect with the Innovate Finance team at [email protected].

The Council will convene at Innovate Finance Global Summit on April 15 and 16 2024. If you are a member of the press and would like to attend please contact the Innovate Finance Press Team at [email protected].

Media contacts

Innovate Finance – [email protected]

Zilch – [email protected]

About Innovate Finance

Innovate Finance is the independent industry body that represents and advances the global FinTech community in the UK. Its mission is to support the next generation of technology-led innovators to create a more democratic and more effective financial services sector that works better for all

Innovate Finance’s membership ranges from seed stage startups and global financial institutions to investors, professional services firms, and global FinTech hubs. All benefit from Innovate Finance’s unique position as the single point of access to promote enabling policy and regulation, talent and skills, business opportunity and growth, and investment capital.

By bringing together and connecting the most forward-thinking participants in financial services, Innovate Finance is helping create a UK and global financial services sector that is more transparent, more sustainable and more inclusive.

For more information, visit: www.innovatefinance.com

About Zilch

Zilch’s vision is to eliminate the cost of consumer credit. For good.

Zilch is the ad-subsidised payments network. Leveraging its unique vertically integrated, first party data business model to set itself apart from the incumbent fintech industry with a profitable global revenue source, bringing unrivalled value to customers and marketers alike. Today, Zilch is revolutionising the $50 trillion advertising and payments industries by merging the very best of debit, credit, and savings.

Zilch provides millions of customers the freedom to go anywhere in the world (online or offline) and when they pay, earn up to 5% cashback & rewards on debit payments (‘Pay Now’) or spread interest-free credit repayments over six weeks or three months and in the process help build their credit profiles with the major credit agencies. Three years from launch, Zilch had amassed more than 3.6 million registered customers.

Since April 2020, Zilch has been regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), obtaining a consumer credit licence through the Regulatory Sandbox Programme.

For more information, visit: www.zilch.com
Ryan Mendy, Chief Communications Officer, [email protected]

Zilch expands its consumer credit offering with launch of longer-duration zero-interest payment option, adding to existing ‘Pay over 6 weeks’ product
Designed for bigger-ticket purchases of £75+, ‘Pay over 3 months’ stands out as a regulated credit option within the UK market, offering an extended repayment period
Customers use their Zilch card on average 100 times a year

Zilch, the ad-subsidised payments network (ASPN), today announces the launch of a new credit payment product, allowing its customers to spread interest-free repayments for larger purchases over three months. The new ‘Pay over 3 months’ product will provide more flexibility to customers and drive up Zilch’s market-leading wallet share.

The new ‘Pay over 3 months’ product has already been made available to around 100,000 Zilch customers in a trial. Eligible customers from Zilch’s more than 3.6 million registered users will be offered the new product from April 2024 onwards. The launch will provide Zilch customers with even greater choice when paying, enabling them to go in app and seamlessly choose between ‘Pay over 3 months’, the shorter-tenor ‘Pay over 6 Weeks’ or, for day-to-day purchases, Zilch’s reward-earning ‘Pay Now’ debit product where they earn up to 5%.

When opting to ‘Pay over 3 months’, Zilch customers will pay 25% up-front and spread the remaining purchase price over three instalments, just like they currently do when making interest-free credit repayments over six weeks. They will benefit from the same industry-leading consumer safeguards given that Zilch will offer this as a regulated product under its FCA consumer credit licence. This product will allow customers to build their credit scores each month, through Zilch’s reporting agreements with the UK’s leading Credit Reference Agencies.

With a higher minimum spend threshold of £75 during beta testing, ‘Pay over 3 months’ empowers consumers to spread the cost of larger purchases over a longer timeframe and better manage the impact of bigger and less regular expenses on their cash flow. It represents one of the longest-duration loans provided by any major UK fintech offering zero-interest regulated credit payments. Customers’ three-month borrowing will be capped at personalised and dynamic affordability limits.

Philip Belamant, CEO and co-founder of Zilch, said: “In the past three years Zilch has successfully delivered more than 50 million customer transactions and £2 billion in customer spending, yielding us extensive behavioural datasets. This is because customers today use Zilch on average more than 100 times annually to manage their day-to-day spending across debit and credit. Today’s product launch moves Zilch closer to our end game of capturing total share of wallet. This new payment option is tailored for significant purchases or emergency moments, such as buying electronics, car tyres or home repairs like when the boiler breaks. As Zilch is FCA-regulated, customers can spend with the confidence that every payment over £100 is covered under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. It’s simply the best way for any adult to pay – especially in today’s economic climate.”

Based on the evidence of how the new product drove commerce and helped customers to finance larger purchases during beta testing, Zilch has partnered with a diverse range of leading UK merchants where customers can Pay over 3 months, in-store or on the app, with no fees.

Will Prosser, Director of Digital Marketing and CRM, a TUI UK & IE spokesperson said, “The launch of ‘Pay over 3 months’ is fantastic news for Zilch customers and consumers everywhere, giving them the option to spread the cost of larger purchases over a longer period. It’s a great tool for supporting people in managing their finances when buying bigger-ticket items like a holiday and it’s important to us that we provide our customers with choice. Partnering with Zilch who offer zero interest or fees, is one way we’re adding value and peace of mind for our customers.”

Other merchants choosing to fully subsidise customers’ cost of credit through their advertising spend include Lego, Nike and Morrisons. Alternatively customers can Pay over 3 months, for a small and clearly stated up-front fee starting as low as £2, at any of the 38 million merchants who accept Mastercard worldwide.

Ends

About Zilch

Zilch’s vision is to eliminate the cost of consumer credit. For good.

Zilch provides millions of customers the freedom to go anywhere in the world (online or offline) and when they pay, earn up to 5% cashback & rewards on debit payments (‘Pay Now’) or spread interest-free credit repayments over six weeks (‘Pay in 4 over 6 weeks’) and in the process help build their credit profiles with the major credit agencies. Three years from launch, Zilch had amassed more than 3.6 million registered customers.

Since April 2020, Zilch has been regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), obtaining a consumer credit licence through the Regulatory Sandbox Programme.

For more information, visit: www.zilch.com

Contacts

Zilch – Ryan Mendy, Chief Communications Officer: [email protected]

Media enquiries:

[email protected]

In recent testing, Zilch Up has already helped over 25,000 people switch from being invisible to visible at the UK’s major credit reference agencies
Zilch – already regulated by the FCA – has rolled out this new offering off the back of securing further licence enabling it to show customers their credit scores, bringing a pioneering shift for the BNPL payments sector

Zilch, the UK-headquartered multi award-winning ad-subsidised payments network, today proudly unveils Zilch Up – a revolutionary product dedicated to empowering people typically excluded from mainstream credit. This will create access for millions to build their financial profiles safely and responsibly and without paying any interest.

The introduction of Zilch Up provides all the benefits of Zilch’s zero-interest, ad-subsidised borrowing with the ability to improve your credit score, which wasn’t possible before Zilch. With 5 million people in the UK deemed credit invisible, Zilch’s new product enables customers with tools to improve their credit scores and increase their credit limit. Starting with credit limits as little as £50, Zilch Up has all of the same powerful features as the Zilch classic product with a few important changes designed to be suitable for its target user.

Zilch Up customers have the option to pause credit and still use Zilch as a debit card via the Pay Now option, and earn rewards. Or with total control they can toggle in-app to Credit and pay a first instalment of 50%, with the remaining 50% payable over six weeks. In addition, customers will soon also be able to receive financial support in the form of credit coaching, and the ability to view their credit score in the Zilch app.

Zilch’s innovative approach gives customers a regulated offering which, in partnership with leading CRAs, means that for the first time, consumers can improve their credit scores by spending on interest free credit via BNPL borrowing and enjoy all of the consumer protections they would expect from a regulated product.

Philip Belamant, CEO and co-founder of Zilch, said: “We need to strengthen the protections for consumers and increase access to interest free and affordable credit – particularly now when the cost of living continues to hurt. For too long millions of people in the UK have had to struggle with limited or no access to credit due to thin and weak files. In a digital finance world, this is causing them the stress and crippling pain of funding unaffordable high interest costs plus the danger of hard to understand late fees, merely to access credit.

“At Zilch, we aren’t waiting. We want to change this status quo by democratising access to interest free and affordable credit, advancing the lives of millions of families and individuals in managing and planning their day-to-day financial health. In testing, our new product, Zilch Up, has already lifted over 25,000 customers into mainstream credit and we intend to help many more.”

Zilch Up not only reflects Zilch’s commitment to financial inclusivity but also signifies a bold step towards creating a fairer, more inclusive financial ecosystem that brings all the benefits of ad subsidised zero interest payments to customers who would otherwise miss out.

The results mean thousands more people now have enough detail in their credit records to be deemed to have a valid credit history. A credit score improvement can only occur where a consumer is more up to date with Zilch than they are generally with other lenders, or where there was no history and they have borrowed from lenders not reporting their history (which traditionally would be extremely high-cost marginal lenders)

Zilch’s journey began with a profound recognition of the disparity in affordable credit access, between those in society who need it most, and those who have access to the most affordable financial products. This has inspired the business to embark on a mission to bridge this critical gap. Through strategic partnerships with the UK’s leading credit referencing agencies (CRAs) Zilch has honed the Zllch Up initiative that serves as a testament to its commitment to financial inclusivity.

Zilch is the only UK provider of credit via BNPL whose data appears on consumer credit files and is always included in scores.

Zilch was the first UK-born BNPL provider of credit to be authorised by the FCA, giving its customers extra protections and making sure they can access the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Contacts

Zilch – Ryan Mendy, Chief Communications Officer: [email protected]

In 3 years, Zilch has generated a total of £300m in rewards and savings for users.

Company reveals customer numbers reach 3.5m, equivalent to 3,000 sign-ups a day since launch.

London, 31 August 2023 – Zilch – the multi-award-winning ad-subsidised payments platform – is to open markets for trading at the London Stock Exchange today to celebrate its third birthday. The milestone celebration coincides with a series of achievements including remarkable customer savings and growth, robust trading performance and a string of industry awards that underscore the first phase of its vision to eliminate the cost of consumer credit. For good.

Today, Europe’s fastest fintech to go from Series A to $2bn valuation – Zilch – reveals it has passed the threshold of 3.5 million registered customers – the equivalent of over 3,000 people signing up to benefit from Zilch every day, for three years since its launch. By using its reward-earning ‘Pay Now’ debit product and zero-interest ‘Pay in 4 over 6 weeks’ credit product, Zilch customers have now spent more than £1.5 billion through the platform and in return benefitted from over £300 million in rewards and savings on interest and late fees.

Having consistently maintained one of the highest Trustpilot ratings of any financial product, Zilch is today one of the most respected and valuable of the 20 UK fintech unicorns.

Philip Belamant, CEO and co-founder, comments: “I’m enormously proud of how far we’ve come in just three years, and we appreciate Julia Hoggett, CEO of the London Stock Exchange, inviting us down to open its markets today in celebration of this milestone. In just 36 months, almost 10% of the UK adult working population is now a registered customer. Many customers are using Zilch daily with our average customer using the product 100 times a year. Zilch has already driven over £1.5 billion in commerce to retailers and put over £300m of savings and rewards back into the pockets of customers. And this is just the beginning.

“Whilst we remain acutely aware of the many challenges that lie ahead, I am very encouraged by the fact our margins are currently at their highest, credit losses at record lows and revenues the strongest we’ve ever seen. Exceptional growth in fundamental unit economics with substantial gross profit margins holds Zilch on a clear course to profitability and beyond. We are also currently on track to process more sales in the next 12 months than we have in Zilch’s history to date.”

Sean O’Connor, co-founder, added: “We are pleased that the strength with which our counter-cyclical business model has performed during this challenging macro market environment, together with the scale of its societal impact and growth potential, is increasingly being noted in institutional capital markets. As such, we are delighted to be invited by the CEO of the London Stock Exchange to open what is one of the world’s major stock markets.”

Zilch was invited to open markets at the London Stock Exchange in celebration of its three-year anniversary. Still a privately owned, fast-scaling business, Zilch is using its unique ad-subsidised payments model to tackle one of the world’s largest Total Addressable Markets (TAM), wherein circa $50 trillion (up from circa $20 trillion in 2000) is being spent on bills, payments and ecommerce annually. In the next five years, this is expected to grow another $30 trillion.

Zilch has received a slew of prestigious awards validating its industry-leading position, including being named ‘Best Credit Card’ at the 2023 Global Payments Innovation Awards and ‘Alternative Consumer Credit Provider of the Year’ at the esteemed Credit Strategy Awards (following on from its recognition as the ‘Best Credit Card’ at the 2022 Credit Strategy Lending Awards). In addition, Zilch’s co-founder and CEO was recognised as ‘Leader of the Year 2023’ at Credit Strategy’s recent Leadership Awards, and EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year 2022 for London.

ENDS

About Zilch

Zilch’s vision is to eliminate the cost of consumer credit. For good.

Zilch is a multi award-winning direct-to-consumer ad-subsidised payments network. Leveraging its unique vertically integrated, first party data business model to set itself apart from the incumbent fintech industry with a profitable global revenue source, bringing unrivalled value to customers and marketers alike. Today Zilch is revolutionising the $50 trillion advertising and payments industries by merging the very best of debit, credit, and savings.

Zilch provides millions of customers the freedom to go anywhere in the world (online or offline) and when they pay, earn up to 5% cashback & rewards on debit payments (‘Pay Now’) or spread interest-free credit repayments over six weeks (‘Pay in 4 over 6 weeks’) and in the process help build their credit profiles with the major credit agencies. Within 36 months since launch in 2020, Zilch amassed more than 3.5 million registered customers.

In January 2023, Zilch struck a ground-breaking reporting agreement with the UK’s prime credit reference agencies, transforming the UK lending ecosystem by enabling 50m+ adults to build their credit records using interest-free credit rather than high-cost revolving credit products.

Since April 2020, Zilch has been regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), obtaining a consumer credit licence through the Regulatory Sandbox Programme.

For more information, visit: www.zilch.com

Contacts
Zilch – Ryan Mendy, Chief Communications Officer: [email protected]

For any media enquiries, please contact:
[email protected]

Zilch, the groundbreaking direct-to-consumer (D2C) credit provider and advertising technology platform, announces the opening of its new technology hub in Krakow, Poland. This strategic move establishes a European Centre for Excellence which will serve as a pivotal facility dedicated to accelerating the development and implementation of new innovative features and technologies.

The Krakow hub marks Zilch’s third global location, complementing the company’s London headquarters in the UK and its Miami office in the US. With over 30% of Zilch’s software engineers based in Krakow, the technology hub is poised for further expansion over the next two years. This growth will leverage Poland’s thriving economy, its renowned business services sector, and a local labour market boasting a vast pool of highly skilled technology specialists.

Under the leadership of Zilch’s CTO, Sean Hederman, the Krakow team will collaborate closely with the core engineering centre in the UK, setting the stage for the establishment of additional technology hubs worldwide to sustain Zilch’s continued growth trajectory.

This investment in Zilch’s core product development capabilities aligns seamlessly with the company’s strategic focus, which has propelled Zilch to over 3 million registered customers in record time.

Philip Belamant, CEO and Co-Founder of Zilch, stated, “The current global macroeconomic climate has led to a marked increase in financial exclusion for customers and a significant reduction in funding for private firms. This creates an environment where well-funded, economically viable and highly scalable companies like Zilch can leapfrog the competition while delivering immense value to the mass market customer. While others are scaling back, we are doubling down on investment into our team, product, and customers. This strategic step is part of our targeted investment program into R&D and technology. We expect our new Krakow operation will serve as a blueprint for similar technology hubs worldwide.”

~ ASPN, Zilch’s proprietary ad-sales platform, achieves conversion rates of up to 55%, surpassing the search industry average by 10+ times – enabling the Googlisation of Payments ~

~ The Ad-Subsidised-Payments-Network allows retailers to offer contextualised advertising deals directly to customers through its vertically integrated payments app

~ Platform brands such as Amazon and Ebay achieve average conversions of 59% ~

~ Food & Drink sector witnessed particularly outstanding results, with brands achieving an average conversion rate of c.70% ~

~ Significantly reduced product return rates across all sectors, averaging just 7% compared to the typical ecommerce range of 20-30% ~

Zilch, the pioneering direct-to-consumer (D2C) payments technology and advertising platform, is today announcing the official rollout of its Ad-Subsidised-Payments-Network (ASPN) to third parties through open APIs. The proprietary ad-sales platform has demonstrated unprecedented performance, delivering outstanding results for retailer partners and, more importantly, providing customers with over $160 million in savings via cashback, rewards and interest-free credit.

Zilch initially created ASPN to power its own ad-subsidised Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) product offering, attracting over 3 million registered customers in just 24 months and seeing more than 5,000 retailers reallocate their advertising spend away from clicks and impressions to a payments platform that only charges for sales. With more than $1.7 billion in commerce having been transacted through the platform, ASPN is now being made available through open APIs to any third-party app / card issuer that wants to participate in the network, which is already integrated with 38 million merchants worldwide. Partners can access the network of dynamic commissions through APIs which provide new revenue streams outside of interchange. Merchants can adjust these commissions and attribute sales (online and offline) in real time without any change to their existing payment infrastructure.

Zilch rolls out ASPN globally

The democratisation of access to Zilch’s ASPN will create new business-to-business revenue for the firm and substantial additional revenue opportunities for partners, all while accelerating Zilch’s mission: to eliminate the cost of consumer credit (using ad subsidies), for good.

The unparalleled performance of Zilch’s ASPN platform demonstrates the power of retail media, helping Zilch become a game-changer in today’s fintech industry. An analysis of the data from ASPN’s performance shows:

Brands can achieve a conversion rate (the proportion of customers who make a purchase after interacting with the advert) of up to 55% – significantly higher than the industry averages for traditional forms of digital advertising that range from c.2% to 10%.

Food and drink brands are converting at an average of c.70% of ad interactions into sales. Brands such as Amazon achieve average conversions of nearly 60%.

Retailers also saw product return rates plummet, averaging 7% across all sectors compared to the average e-commerce range of 20-30%. This shows how Zilch helps retailers reach customers with a genuine intent to buy rather than stoking impulse purchases, which is hugely beneficial to both the retailer and the consumer (not to mention the environment too).

Zilch’s current top 30 merchant partners alone generate a combined $700 billion of revenue annually and pay an average commission to Zilch of over 6% on each purchase made via the Zilch platform. That speaks to the commercial opportunity for Zilch and its new retail partners as well as the scalability of this unique business model.

Philip Belamant, CEO and Co-Founder of Zilch, said: “Our vision with Zilch was to offer all customers an incredible payments product that would eliminate the cost of consumer credit for good. To achieve this, we generate ad revenue from merchants when customers shop and use this to subsidise our powerful reward-earning debit and zero-interest credit in one digital card that customers can use anywhere. This is what we call the Googlisation of Payments. Uniquely, merchants can redirect ad spend to Zilch away from clicks and impressions on traditional platforms that suffer fraud, lack of attribution and don’t necessarily convert into sales.

“Opening up ASPN to third parties is an important step in creating what could be a trillion-dollar-plus payments ad-marketplace. On one side you will have millions of consumers transacting billions every month and receiving access to interest-free-credit, savings and rewards on their purchases. On the other, you’ll have hundreds of thousands of retailers bidding to get in front of a massive closed-loop network of ultra-high-intent consumers with a sustainable means to spend.

“We truly believe that this is the future of the advertising industry, and that our current results, across almost $2 billion of commerce to date, bear evidence to that. The market continues to see a decline in spend on search and social media advertising in favour of retail media, where retailers sell online ads using their first-party data, precisely because retail media provides advertisers with better targeting at times of maximum ‘intent’, higher conversion and more accurate attribution. What data from ASPN shows is that, when you place those ads on a consumer’s favourite payments platform and enable them to make the purchase, rather than on the checkout page of an ecommerce site, the performance is unparalleled.”

Click here to register for our white paper, coming soon.

Zilch and StepChange at Innovate Finance’s Global Summit (IFGS) 2023.

Introducing Zilch and the UK’s leading debt charity, StepChange’s, debut public appearance at Innovate Finance’s Global Summit (IFGS) 2023. Our Chief Communications Officer, Ryan Mendy, and StepChange’s Director of Client Experience, Gail Arkle, were joined by Innovate Finance’s co-founder, Justin Fitzpatrick, to discuss how our innovative solutions are helping vulnerable consumers manage their finances during difficult times.

Watch the fireside to discover the importance of how market-first partnerships like Zilch and StepChange are creating a more financially inclusive society.

Zilch’s vision is to eliminate the cost of credit for consumers. For good.

Time’s up for lobbyists trying to slim down progressive new rules for Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL). Last night, a consultation by HM Treasury on new regulations for BNPL lending came to a close. Whatever happens, ministers must keep momentum and not water down the legislation.

It’s vital that the government does everything it can to make sure consumers are properly protected. Vital because we are seeing the largest change in how people pay in decades and because, until now, too many lenders have done their business, lending billions in credit to the public, without the high standards, accountability and consumer protections expected of regulated firms.

BNPL services have become so integral to how consumers spend that BNPL accounted for almost one pound in every eight spent online this January. Like consumers’ habits, the British economy has changed. Inflation is down slightly, but cost-of-living pressures remain intense. For some, access to interest-free, affordable credit is the only way to manage spending from month to month. Why would you opt for an interest-bearing revolving line in its place?

Rising demand for 0%-interest credit has led to a growing number of fintech companies offering these services. In a mark of validation, many high-street banks have entered this new space too and more recently, Apple. Yet, until now, regulation has been busy playing catch up.

In fact, the majority of firms have been operating solely under an exemption to the UK’s existing consumer credit regulations. That has meant unregulated BNPL businesses have operated without accountability, while processing short-term loans running into the billions. This left consumers without a right of appeal or redress if things went wrong.

Thankfully, that situation is about to change. In February, the UK Government set out proposals to tighten regulation of the BNPL sector, clamping down on unregulated providers. To date, most firms have paid lip service to the idea of greater oversight and control without taking action. Now, the customer safeguards they could – and should – have introduced voluntarily will become mandatory.

We support the government’s plans – and would go further still. There are two areas where we believe the incoming regulations should be tightened for the whole credit industry, not only the BNPL sector.

The first relates to what is called ‘credit stacking’. This is where customers are allowed to pay off one debt with another form of debt, such as using a high-interest-bearing credit card to pay off an interest-free instalment plan with a BNPL provider. All this does is shift the debt around, often moving it to a card carrying a significantly higher interest rate than would be imposed by an interest-free BNPL agreement. The BNPL provider is handing off the risk to the credit card company and the customer is being “refinanced” out of a zero-interest loan into an interest bearing one.

This short-sighted practice should be banned outright. It allows the new providers to underprice risk and offload defaults to credit card companies, leaving them with higher bad debt losses, and transforms interest-free credit into revolving interest-bearing credit for customers. This all perpetuates problem debt.

The second area relates to how customers’ borrowing and performance is communicated to credit reference agencies (CRAs). The government would like BNPL providers to report to these organisations, which until recently haven’t been ready for accurate reporting on the sector. Fortunately, as of this year the major UK agencies are ready and so all credit lenders, inclusive of BNPL, should now share data with all prime CRAs – as Zilch already does.

In short, it is our belief that all credit lenders – BNPL or otherwise – should report to all credit referencing agencies, and this should be reflected in consumers’ scores today. Doing this would offer the highest form protection to consumers.

When that’s done correctly the ecosystem will surely begin to sing. It will allow all lenders full visibility of individuals’ outstanding debt and repayments, helping lenders to better assess affordability, further protecting customers from over-borrowing. So far many BNPL firms have been unwilling to report at all, or to all three major credit reference agencies. Of those that do, most don’t do so in a way that 1) ensures repayment performance is reported every month, and 2) influences their customers’ credit scores. This is something we at Zilch already announced in January 2023.

If properly operated by responsible, regulated companies, BNPL can deliver real benefits. We’re not reinventing the wheel but rather making the wheel more accessible, affordable and easier to understand (most today don’t even know what APR stands for). These services are significantly more affordable than how we all used to borrow money for short periods – those expensive credit cards or online loans, for which the average APR is now over 30%.

With 5 million UK consumers deemed ‘credit invisible’, we need an industry standard for credit reference agency reporting that incentivises and rewards responsible spending, while making sure that BNPL providers conduct appropriate affordability checks on borrowers and help other lenders do the same.

History has taught us technology always arrives before regulation. The UK can safeguard people and build a system of regulation that serves as a blueprint for regulators and governments globally. It seems that we are well on our way to doing just that.

Watch Philip Belamant, CEO & Co-Founder of Zilch, sit down with Simon Squibb, investor, entrepreneur and Chief Purpose Officer at The Purposeful Project, as they delve into the mind of the visionary entrepreneur, as Zilch continues in it’s mission to revolutionise the way we think about and interact with finance.

Zilch has become the fastest European fintech company to go from Series A to $2bn valuation, and in this episode, Simon and Philip go deep into the core values and mission that enabled Zilch to reach this huge level of success so quickly.

Watch the full interview here or see the links below to the Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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