Plus500 laid out plans for a super-app across the Atlantic, in this week’s column Samuel Norman looks at how it could frame their future. Also on the agenda, Healey continues pre-Budget summits and does anyone still care about the digital pound?
Is a London-listed fintech turning to the US for its monumental ‘super-app’ a point of concern?
It may well be. Perhaps it has become a habitual fear of those in the City regarding the firms we watch scale here. They get a taste of the growth across the Atlantic, and suddenly its strategy – and its listing venue – is upended.
Money transfer firm Wise opened its major operational hub in Tampa, Florida, right around the time of its July 2021 listing on the London Stock Exchange. Four years later it would lay out plans to downgrade its City listing by making New York its primary venue.
Are we seeing the early ingredients of a similar move? Plus500 revealed on Tuesday it had snapped up US retail investor platform Hedge in a move that set the group up for its next big ambition: a super-app.
But this super-app would only be available to US users when it first launches in early 2027, with further geographies set for expansion “over time”.
Plus500 began operations in the UK shortly after it was founded in 2008. It would go on to expand into the US nearly fifteen years later following the acquisition of Cunningham Commodities in 2021.
America has become one of its biggest revenue drivers, too. The fintech recorded its highest customer income growth in five years in the first half of 2026 following its broader expansion into the region.
Investors have been showered in returns since the firm’s 2013 IPO. Following a buyback earlier this year, Plus500’s investor returns topped $3.1bn for the period since its float. That equates to a 12,000 per cent total shareholder return, making it the best performing stock across the FTSE all-share index.
Company boss David Zruia is already on record making his feelings towards a US listing known.
“We estimate that the valuation would be higher within US exchanges,” he told the Standard in 2023. “It’s something we’ll consider when market conditions are better.”
The firm currently holds a £2.4bn price tag placing it on the FTSE 250 index.
Zruia added: “The main point here is that we are a technology firm but we are not valued as a tech firm. We are valued as a financial services firm which is not really accurate. In the US we can see tech companies getting much better valuations.”
No signals are yet to come from the firm that a switch is on the near-term horizon. But the new plans for a super-app renew efforts for Plus500 to be perceived in the tech field. It’ll also put the firm toe-to-toe with the likes of New York-listed Robinhood in a battle for prediction markets and the monopoly on the all-in-one tech investment experience.
Zruia said the new launch will set it up for access to the “world’s largest retail investment market” – which perhaps alone is the obvious reason for the US focus for this product.
But that should also shine a light on where we are with UK retail investment growth. Despite some efforts to get Brits flooding into markets – and a peculiar squirrel mascot – the UK still massively lags behind the US for investments.
Figures from the UK’s financial watchdog estimate just 23 per cent of UK adults hold non-pension equities or investment funds. That is compared to some 62 per cent in the US according to the Federal Reserve survey of consumer finance.
Should Plus500 eventually jump ship, don’t look for a single smoking gun in valuation, audience or growth. In reality, it will likely be the cumulative weight of all three tipping the scales.
Does anyone care about the digital pound?
The Bank of England is in no rush to launch the digital pound. That is in case it wasn’t clear from the fact their current design phase – that will decide if they even want to start building it – has yet to conclude.
And in case it wasn’t clear from that, deputy governor Sarah Breeden all but confirmed there was no rush in an appearance at the IMF summit in Bangkok this week.
Breeden said the central bank would not have to be “leading the way” on payments innovation and instead pointed to the rise of stablecoins and tokenised deposits in commercial banking.
“If they are delivering the benefits and we have made sure their value is anchored then maybe we don’t need a digital pound so quickly,” she said.
It follows a flailing few years for the digital pound project, otherwise known as Britcoin. The endeavour – a joint venture with the Treasury – has sought to explore and design a retail central bank digital currency for the UK.
In May 2020 it published its first major discussion paper exploring digital currencies in theory. This was followed, naturally, by a taskforce to begin formal exploration. Then in February 2023 the design phase launched with a consultation paper for the potential architecture of Britcoin. Now here we are, the end of 2026 and due a decision on the future of the British sovereign digital currency.
Yet nobody seems to care. From industry folks, to lawyers, bankers, regulators, it’s a question I bring up as a sidebar in most meetings.
“Are you hearing much excitement around Britcoin?” I’m usually met with an indifferent shrug.
Even with the European Central Bank striking first in this realm – something that would usually get Brits’ backs up – the mention of Britcoin barely evokes an eyebrow raise in the City. When the decision finally lands for that small posse of us out there that will bother to read it, there shouldn’t be any surprises.
Healey dims banks’ shine on vibrant high street
Chancellor John Healey continued his pre-Budget roundtables this week, hosting retail and hospitality leaders for breakfast.
After last week’s gloomy exchange with the banking sector, this week’s guest list got a far warmer reception.
We were informed the Treasury would use the event to recognise the “importance to the economy and employment” as well as the government mantra of “good growth in every postcode”.
This was to be “made visible through the vibrancy of the high street”.
It’s a departure from the banking sector, which were met with a tight-lipped Healey warning bosses of the fiscal “challenges” facing the UK in their private summit a week ago.
We’re expecting to get an update on the government’s vision for the banks’ role on the vibrant high street in a matter of weeks when the access to banking review is published ahead of the Budget. Labour has committed to opening 350 banking hubs this Parliament, but that is predicted to climb following the review. These hubs are jointly funded by the high street lenders and Cash Access UK.
The end of the month is shaping up to be a rough one for the banks. Between demands to fund extra hubs, potential tax hits in the Budget, and impending third-quarter earnings, the sector may find it hard to be vibrant.