“Can a PRA-authorised UK challenger bank sustain both a direct consumer lending/savings business and a white-label BaaS licensing model on a single in-house cloud-native core?”
Founded in 2016 as a digitally native challenger bank focused on underserved UK consumers, Chetwood grew a suite of own-brand consumer products (LiveLend personal loans, SmartSave savings, BetterBorrow, Wave credit card, ModaMortgages). In 2022 it acquired Yobota — originally a sister company — to bring cloud-native core banking in-house and position itself as a Banking-as-a-Service provider operating under its own PRA banking licence. This dual strategy — direct consumer products plus a BaaS licensing platform powered by Yobota — set it apart from pure-play challengers. In July 2025 the group was acquired by Shackleton, closing the independent chapter.
Chetwood Financial discloses Yobota (in-house) as its banking provider, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Chetwood Financial does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Yobota (in-house).
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 2 layers in Chetwood Financial's stack: Banking / BaaS (Yobota (in-house)); Lending (LiveLend (dynamic personal loan — rate adjusts with credit score improvement), BetterBorrow (personal loan), SmartSave (savings — not lending but retail deposit product), ModaMortgages (residential mortgage) and 1 other).
Chetwood Financial was founded by Andy Mielczarek and is founded in 2016, headquartered in Wrexham, Wales, United Kingdom.
Chetwood Financial has raised $139.4M in total (latest round: Acquired by Shackleton, July 2025).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Chetwood Financial and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.