Revenues treble to £34m at Quintessential Finance

A NORTH West financial services group, which provides technology to help match lenders to consumers searching for products online, has reported soaring revenues of £34m- a three fold increase over the last year.

Macclesfield-based Quintessential Finance Group, which is co-owned by financial services entrepreneur Paul Naden, has recently started selling its Pingtree software in the US, Australia and New Zealand.

The company, which also has a consumer-facing business offering secured loans and payday loans, is set to launch its own price-comparison website, myfinance.co.uk later this year.

The biggest driver for its growth is the its Pingtree technology, which plugs financial businesses and websites into an entire market of lenders and insurance providers.
 
With more than over 1,000 active partners and affiliates, the business generates over 400,000 loan and insurance applications a month across personal loans, short-term loans, insurance products, debt consolidation, financial claims and price comparison websites.
 
The group has expanded into new international markets, opening its first permanent US office, as well as operating in Australia, New Zealand and, shortly, Canada and Brazil.
 
Quintessential was founded in 2006 by chief executive Greg Cox and Paul Naden. After initially focusing on the secured loan sector, it diversified into wider financial services. It employs around 120 people at its Macclesfield headquarters and expects this number to hit 150 in the next year.
 
Mr Cox, who along with Paul Naden owns a 47.5% stake in the business – the duo have just handed 5% to managing director Mike Ransom – said: “The way in which people buy financial products, including how they borrow and save, has changed.  New technology is driving choice, and with it increasing competition.  
 
“Consumers demand decisions in minutes, whilst providers need a consistent high quality supply of customers. Our technology helps to fulfil those needs by bridging the gap between the consumer and the lenders.”

Mr Cox says Quintessential serves the “whole of the market” and believes there is a gap in the price comparison sector for consumers with less than a perfect credit history.

“We will be going big on the launch of myfinance, it is a competitive market, but I think it is only really serving prime customers, Our product will be a credit-focused price comparison site.”