We’ve been celebrating UK Black History Month this October at TrueLayer through our internal Empower Together campaign.

Our aim is to bring awareness, come together, pay homage to and also celebrate the voices and achievements of key Black influencers, both past and present.

Truelayer didn’t need to look too far to discover our very own client Pardna, which was created by award-finalist co-founders Paul Henriques and Dee Odus who have built the app to bring a key Afro-Caribbean community saving practice into the new age and making it accessible to us all.

The Pardna app was launched in 2022 and is based on the concept of the pardner, a community saving scheme which is a type of Rotating Savings and Credit Association (ROSCA).

This is a system of informal, community-based saving and lending that originated in Africa and was brought to the Caribbean by enslaved Africans. In the UK, the Windrush Generation and their descendants leveraged this money system in order to overcome financial exclusion. These systems were crucial for many Black People who were denied basic banking services, making it difficult for individuals from minority backgrounds to save money and access credit.

The pardner works by having a small group of people contribute a set amount of money at regular fixed intervals. At each interval, the accumulated pot of money is given as a lump sum to one of its members. This cycle of contributing to the pot and giving the accumulated lump sum continues in rotation until each member of the pardner group has received a lump sum payout.

Passing the concept of pardner on to the next generation

Henriques shared with TrueLayer’s Inclusion & Diversity employee resource group (ERG) that cultural and financial reasons inspired him and Odus to create the Pardna app. He regularly saw his own parents of Jamaican heritage use the pardner system to save money and highlighted how significant the practice was for his family and wider community.

Henriques’ professional background in UX and product design urged him to elevate and modernise the traditionally manual pardner system (which would include physical cash and bank deposits), and reimagine a digital and accessible system that could help people to reach their financial goals such as helping British Ghanaians to save for property in Ghana.

The app aspires to help its users to save money, steering them away from high-cost credit and loans, and to ensure the tradition continues among younger generations who are accustomed to fintech apps that are readily accessible via personal devices.

Henriques and Odus have modernised this traditional concept, making it frictionless and seamless through technology, particularly with the advent of open banking and banking deregulation.

Helping users keep 90% of potential fees in their pockets

TrueLayer facilitates essential identity checks for users and streamlines the movement of funds, eliminating the need for cash or sharing bank details, which makes the process easy and secure for users. Henriques also praised TrueLayer's initial setup support in the early days of Pardna, and the consistent helpful interactions that have enabled a smooth and enjoyable partnership over the years.

Paul Henriques, Founder of Pardna, explains: “We have helped our users access £1,800 on average when they have saved with their friends and family for 12 months on the Pardna App. In comparison, a loan of the same amount within the same short time period would incur fees of around £250. We enabled our users to keep 90% of that fee in their pockets to spend on the things they actually needed, such as major household bills and lifestyle needs.”

In the coming years, the founders are excited to continue to develop Pardna so that it caters to younger generations who are more accustomed to digital solutions, ensuring the practice continues securely in an app format.

Henriques and Odus have expressed their enthusiasm for future developments and trust in TrueLayer to help realise these plans including harnessing the power of AI, especially when it comes to providing its users with personalised financial tips and suggested guidance whilst prioritising user data privacy.

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"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

African Proverb