September 2011

Family Investments Acquires Governor Money

 

              

Family Investments’ backing will accelerate growth plans for the UK’s first online cash savings platform

Family Investments announced on 3 August that it has acquired Governor Money (www.governormoney.com), the one-stop-shop website for cash savings. Governor Money will become a subsidiary of Family Investments, which has provided third-party administration to Governor Money since its launch in April 2011.

Governor Money is the UK’s first online cash savings platform. It offers savers a single account and online log-in where they can deposit, monitor and transfer cash across a range of deposit takers. Savers get all the benefits of a choice of rates and terms with full transparency whilst subsequently removing the headaches associated with managing product maturities, ISA transfers and tax accounting issues.

Governor Money has particular appeal to higher net worth and mass affluent individuals as they can hold large amounts of money in one account but spread their savings amongst a number of deposit takers, therefore ensuring balances remain under the £85,000 Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) limit per deposit taker. Governor Money customersbenefit from receiving alerts when any fixed rate deals come to an end and when any balances with a deposit taker breach the FSCS compensation limit.

The acquisition of Governor Money reflects Family Investments’ business diversification strategy. The mutual has over 35 years’ experience of managing money for over 1.75m members. It has been an ISA provider since 1999 and is the exclusive supplier of the Post Office ISA range.

Governor Money’s co-founders and launch team will remain with the business.

 

Benefits of acquisition to Family Investments’ members include:

• Allowing Family’s existing members to access leading cash rates
• A stronger business – purchasing a unique platform with significant revenue generating potential
• Complements Family’s online distribution strategy

 

Benefits of acquisition to Governor Money’s customers: 

• The support of Family Investments will help Governor Money grow more quickly, accelerating the range of deposit takers available on the site
• Governor Money is now backed by a long-established, mutual retail financial services business in savings and investment management
• In time, Governor Money customers will be able to benefit from a wider range of products and services available from Family

 

Existing Governor Money customers need to take no action and their accounts will continue to operate as before.

 

John Reeve, Chief Executive of Family Investments, said:

“Today’s announcement represents a great deal for both Family Investments and Governor Money. We believe Governor Money has the potential to revolutionise the way people think about cash savings. It allows customers to actively manage all their cash savings in one place, the same way as many investors do with equities. 

“Family Investments is in a strong financial position and continues to grow but as a modern mutual, we always need to look to the future and innovate. 

“The founders and launch team at Governor Money have done a great job in bringing a ground breaking business to the savings market and we are excited about working with them to help it reach its full potential.”

 

John-Paul Booth, CEO and co-founder of Governor Money, said:

“Family Investments is the perfect organisation to enable Governor Money to realise our significant growth potential and also develop our services to savers over the coming years. Family’s strong commitment to client service, technology and providing simple savings products matches our ethos exactly. We look forward to making the business a widely recognised and important service in UK cash savings.”

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