Tandem Bank has announced that it will acquire consumer lender Oplo.

Tandem said that the move was part of plans to make it a “fairer, greener” digital bank.

The combined business will have £1.2 billion in total assets – including £230 million in green lending – £775 million in customer deposits, and a growing customer base of over 171,000 customers.

The bank said that the acquisition will broaden its existing product offering across a number of consumer lending products, including first and second charge mortgages, home improvement loans, car finance and personal lending.

Under the Tandem brand, the bank will build on Oplo’s expertise in lending to offer customers fairer financial choices, focused on the estimated 26 million ‘new mainstream’ customers whose lending needs are underserved by the traditional high street banks.

“This is a really exciting moment for Tandem – by combining with Oplo we will create a bank totally focused on helping our customers to make fairer and greener financial choices,” said Tandem Group chief executive, Susie Aliker. “The two businesses are a great fit, bringing together a complementary range of lending and savings products, with a shared common purpose to make a difference for our people, customers and the planet.

“With our flexible digital platform, new enlarged scale and strong profitability, Tandem is fantastically well positioned to become one of the UK’s leading digital banks.”

Alex Mollart, deputy chief executive of Tandem Bank, and founder and chief exec of Oplo, said: “We have built Oplo into one of the UK’s leading consumer lenders with a clear mission to offer financially fair lending products, helping hard-working people across the UK who are often overlooked and underserved by traditional lenders. Joining forces with Tandem creates a powerful new force which will enable us to launch smart products and develop new technologies to support even more consumers in their everyday financial lives.”

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