logo

Marygold rolls out bespoke business banking app

Finextra4 days ago

As UK SMEs face the prospect of further tax rises this Autumn, amid sluggish growth and a lukewarm public response to the recent Spending Review, Marygold & Co. has launched the UK's first bespoke business banking app designed specifically for solopreneurs and SMEs to prepare for tax management effectively.
0
With 13% of Brits stating that financial mismanagement directly contributed to a business closure, Marygold's launch comes at a pivotal moment as Treasury officials are reportedly drawing up new revenue-raising measures. These include potential increases to dividend and bank profit taxes. April's GDP contraction of 0.3%, combined with new Opinium research showing that over half of Britons expect the economic outlook to worsen in the next year, has intensified pressure on the government's fiscal plans. Meanwhile, the latest Ipsos poll reveals that nearly eight in ten people believe the amount of tax they personally pay will rise within the next 12 months. Just 19% of the public believe the Spending Review prioritised the right areas, fuelling speculation that further fiscal tightening may be required.
In this challenging climate of rising costs, late payments, and inconsistent banking support, Marygold & Co. offers a much-needed alternative to outdated financial platforms - empowering business owners with smart, fee-free tools to better manage their finances and prepare for economic uncertainty. The app's key features include real-time budgeting, automated tax reserves, and tailored financial insights designed for the self-employed and small business community. This innovation comes as the banking sector faces growing scrutiny. According to SaaScada, 77% of UK banking leaders acknowledge that their organisations must modernise to better support SMEs - yet outdated systems, fragmented tools, and hidden charges remain widespread. Hidden fees alone are costing SMEs dearly: 19% report being charged undisclosed fees, averaging over £3,700 per year. In response to delayed payments, 28% of small businesses have resorted to short-term finance simply to stay afloat.
Additional research from Marygold & Co. highlights how poor financial infrastructure affects small businesses at a personal level:
• 16% of business owners confuse revenue with income
• 12% report setbacks due to poor tax planning
With business confidence at its lowest since 2022 (ICAEW), the need for clear, intuitive financial tools is more urgent than ever. Marygold & Co.'s new app is designed to solve the most common pain points reported by small businesses, including opaque fee structures, lack of budgeting tools, and no support for long-term planning. Its key features include:
• Smart Tax Reserves - Automatically sets aside a portion of incoming funds to meet tax obligations
• Real-Time Budgeting - Gives instant visibility over cash flow and business performance
• Financial Resilience Tools - Offers automated saving prompts, behavioural nudges, and planning features
• Streamlined UX - Designed to minimise complexity for time-poor users
Built around actual business behaviour, the Marygold & Co. app is designed specifically for the realities of small business owners, balancing usability with financial discipline. Unlike legacy platforms, it adapts to the working rhythms of time-poor entrepreneurs, providing clarity over complexity and empowering users to make confident, informed financial decisions from day one.
Matthew Parden, CEO of Marygold & Co., commented:
'Entrepreneurs are often boot strapped. Every ounce of energy goes into running the business and every penny counts. For the lucky ones who start seeing profits and surplus income after overhead costs are accounted for, they find it is often too late to create a meaningful retirement pot. This is effectively a tax on entrepreneurs who have already paid income tax, VAT, corporation tax, capital gains and many more'
'So much so that business owners have been unable to build any meaningful provision for when they stop working into pension plans or tax-free savings accounts. They are also restricted as to how much they can put into them with annual limits.'
Backed by The Marygold Companies, Inc., listed on the NYSE American Exchange (MGLD), Marygold & Co. is committed to delivering a superior, accessible financial experience rooted in transparency, control and long-term value. As UK businesses face the highest tax burden in a generation, sustained late payment issues, and shrinking margins, Marygold & Co. provides a modern alternative - a tailored financial tool to help solopreneurs and SMEs not only survive, but plan, grow and thrive.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Insolvencies rise as firms face tariffs and higher costs
Insolvencies rise as firms face tariffs and higher costs

Times

time25 minutes ago

  • Times

Insolvencies rise as firms face tariffs and higher costs

The number of businesses becoming insolvent rose sharply last month as companies faced higher staff costs and continuing uncertainty over trading arrangements with the United States. Business insolvencies in England and Wales rose 15 per cent to 2,238 in May compared with the same month a year ago, according to data from the Insolvency Service. The figures showed that the number of creditors' voluntary liquidations, through which a director chooses to close down the business, rose by 13 per cent to 1,734, while the number of company administrations, which usually involve larger enterprises, was up by 12 per cent to 136. Businesses started paying higher national insurance contributions for employees in April and also faced an increase in the national minimum wage. The corporate environment has also been hit by uncertainty over tariffs, although Britain has now signed a trade deal with the US. Tom Russell, president of R3, the UK's insolvency and restructuring trade body, said the uncertainty over trade costs had made 'medium and long-term planning more difficult' for companies. Mark Ford, partner in the restructuring team at S&W, the professional services firm, said: 'The impact of sluggish economic growth, high borrowing costs, low consumer confidence and high inflation in recent years has eroded cash reserves for businesses and left some in a perilous position. 'Businesses are now facing newer challenges that threaten their viability and this means we are likely to continue to see a steady stream of company insolvencies in the coming months. 'Higher costs resulting from increases to employer national insurance contributions, the minimum wage and business rates are all heaping considerable pressure on businesses, particularly those that feel they are unable to increase prices for fear of losing customers.' Kathleen Garrett, partner at Reed Smith, the law firm, said the Bank of England's decision to hold interest rates on Thursday showed that while borrowing costs were falling, they were facing 'a much more gradual descent than many would have hoped'. She added: 'Businesses are facing a raft of challenges which have caused insolvencies to start rising again. The headwinds from additional business costs such as the recent increases to national insurance and a fraught geopolitical environment in terms of tariffs and unrest appear to have had an effect on business.'

Why is Angela Rayner shifting the council tax burden from north to south?
Why is Angela Rayner shifting the council tax burden from north to south?

The Independent

time26 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Why is Angela Rayner shifting the council tax burden from north to south?

When Angela Rayner took over her department, the first thing she did was to delete 'levelling up' from its name. But she insisted that she was committed to the idea behind the phrase, and now she is about to announce a change in local government funding to prove it. The new funding formula is expected to allocate money from central government according to local needs, including population, poverty and age, with extra weighting for rural and coastal areas with higher transport costs. The effect will be to force local councils in London and the home counties to put up council tax. Many of them are expected to increase tax by the maximum 5 per cent a year for several years, and more than before will ask Rayner for permission to hold a local referendum on an increase greater than 5 per cent. Councils in the north, the Midlands and east London, on the other hand, may be able to cut their council tax, or at least increase it by less. Is this fair? Labour argues that the Conservatives have fiddled the funding formula for 14 years, resulting in artificially low council taxes in places such as Westminster and Wandsworth – former Tory councils that attracted disproportionate media coverage in local elections. In the end, this attempt to cook the books could not hold back the electoral tide, and Labour won control of both councils in 2022. Clobbering those councils is going to make it harder for Labour to retain control, so it could be argued that Rayner is motivated purely by wanting to rebalance the national distribution of resources according to need. The new system will probably be fairer than the current one, if not perfectly fair, but any attempt to adjust local government funding throws up winners and losers – and the losers always make more noise than those who quietly pocket their gains. How quickly will the change happen? Even if the change were totally fair in principle, any sharp fall in central government funding and big increase in council tax is likely to cause hardship. That is why Rayner is expected to adjust her new formula by putting a limit on how much any council's income from central government can fall in a year. David Phillips, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, says: 'It's been 20 years since we've had an effective system to allocate funding between councils so it is out of whack and the changes are going to be big.' That means any changes will probably be phased in over several years. What could possibly go wrong? If Rayner delivers a funding system for local government that is more closely aligned with local needs, she could deliver more radical policy substance than the Conservative slogan of 'levelling up' ever managed. But Phillips points out a philosophical problem. The more the government tries to redistribute resources from 'leafier places' to deprived areas, the more 'it is making a trade-off to prioritise need over incentives for councils to tackle need and grow their council tax base', he says. If councils receive more funding the higher their indicators of deprivation are, there is a danger of perverse incentives for them to keep those indicators high. Shouldn't council tax be revalued from scratch? Of course it should. It is based on notional property values in 1991 (in England; in Wales the reference date is 2003), so it is hopelessly out of date. But revaluation would produce even more dramatic individual winners and losers than changing funding for whole council areas. Rayner's redistribution is already what Sir Humphrey would describe as 'very brave, deputy prime minister'; a full revaluation would be several times braver – in other words, a guaranteed political disaster. The most that is likely to be politically feasible would be to revalue council tax for more expensive properties, such as the one in 20 UK homes currently on the market for more than £1m. A similar policy, called a mansion tax, was considered by the coalition government – George Osborne and the Liberal Democrats wanted it but David Cameron vetoed the idea, saying the Tory party's donors wouldn't wear it. Given that Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is likely to be looking for new sources of revenue in the autumn Budget, this may be an option. She did rule out a mansion tax before the election, but I don't think it has been mentioned since. Look out for even greater 'fairness'.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store