Payment Assist
“Can a single-vertical (UK automotive) BNPL provider become the embedded finance OS for garages and dealerships by layering card, open banking and SMB lending on top of its consumer credit core?”
Payment Assist started in 2013 as a niche UK BNPL provider focused on the automotive aftersales sector — splitting unexpected car repair bills into interest-free instalments. It is owned by Manx Financial Group (LSE: MFX), whose subsidiary Conister Bank Ltd provides the underlying balance sheet. In 2025 the company expanded beyond consumer BNPL into embedded SMB business lending via a partnership with Groov, and built out the 'Ignition' merchant platform to consolidate BNPL, card and open banking payments into one checkout for 8,000+ garages and dealerships.