Mojo Mortgages, Moneybox, Plum and Wagestream have been crowned winners of the Open Up 2020 Challenge after a 15-month long competition.

Run by Nesta Challenges, in partnership with the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE), the £1.5 million competition was designed to inspire innovative Open Banking-enabled solutions to help people across the UK better manage their money.

Mojo’s MortgageScore product combines credit scoring and Open Banking data to determine if a customer is mortgage ready. Once a customer’s score is calculated, the MortgageCoach feature provides personalised advice on how they could improve their score.

The Moneybox app gives users the option to set money aside through round ups, one off or regular deposits, and choose from a range of products including ISAs, savings accounts and pensions.

Plum also automatically sets aside small amounts every few days, finds better deals on bills, offers spending insights and invests the money to help people be better off over their lifetime.

And Wagestream allows employees to stream a proportion of their income as it is earned, save directly from their salary, track their wages and bank balance, and set smart payment reminders in real-time.

The four companies will each receive an additional £150,000 prize to grow their solution to help more people manage their money - on top of the £50,000 awarded at the finalist stage.

The announcement comes as new research from Open Up 2020 found that over half (55 per cent) of people are currently trying to prepare their finances for another lockdown and 38 per cent want personalised guidance and support to help them manage their money better.

The winners were selected from a pool of 107 applicants, which resulted in 15 finalists. All have received both financial and non-financial support and since the start of the challenge their collective users in the UK have more than doubled. This growth is reinforced by recent data from OBIE, which revealed that users of Open Banking-enabled products now exceed two million.

Chris Gorst, director of challenges at Nesta Challenges, said: “The calibre of finalists was extremely high, and our winners have clearly demonstrated how they are harnessing the power of Open Banking to help people adopt better relationships with their money through saving, budgeting, salary advances and support getting on the property ladder.”

Imran Gulamhuseinwala, trustee of the OBIE, added: “COVID-19 has left millions of people facing financial hardships, so it’s more important than ever that the financial services market responds with innovative solutions to help people get back on track with their finances.

“The judges were particularly impressed with the winners’ focus on helping their customers, particularly in this challenging climate, and their commitment to improving financial wellbeing.”

Share Story: