by Terry Murden, January 19, 2017
Accounting software company FreeAgent has signed a deal with the Royal Bank of Scotland to provide the service to its small business customers.
The contract, first outlined in Edinburgh-based FreeAgent ’s flotation documents last October, follows a pilot programme by the bank and its NatWest subsidiary. The service will be offered free to RBS’ business bank account customers who agree to data sharing, with licences paid to FreeAgent directly by RBS.
Ed Molyneux (pictured), chief executive of FreeAgent, said: “I am pleased to report that FreeAgent has formalised and extended its relationship with RBS. Given that our relationship with RBS only started in October 2016, we do not expect a material revenue contribution from licences sold under the agreement for the year ending 31 March 2017. We expect an accurate picture of the level of take-up by RBS clients to emerge only once we have several months of operational data at our disposal. However, we are naturally excited about the potential for this new agreement.”
Marcelino Castrillo, managing director of business and private banking at RBS, added: “The way customers want to bank with us is constantly changing, so it is important for us to innovate. From over 30 vendor proposals we chose FreeAgent because of their willingness to collaborate with us and shape a proposition that really works for our customers, as well as the capability of their platform. The feedback on FreeAgent’s platform speaks for itself, and when we piloted FreeAgent with our customers the majority said they would recommend us if we were to offer the service in future. This sort of endorsement is hard to come by so I’m very excited to see where this partnership can take us.”