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The owner of a law f颈谤尘听has co-founded听补听苍别飞听FinTech f颈谤尘听Manchester with his marketing chief.听

CEO Pawel Oltuszyk, 33,听and CMO听Edyta Sliwinska, 37,听say they decided to听develop intelligent account Frost听after听witnessing the听issues听caused by traditional banks for clients of听Optimal Solicitors.听

They have signed up more than 1,300 people to 补听, which claims to allow people to open an account in minutes from听a听smartphone.听听

Frost听performs all the usual functions of an account, allowing people to听pay in their salary, set up direct debits, send money to contacts, and make online and in-store purchases with a debit card.听

What sets it apart from traditional accounts is its smart engine, which aims to听help听people听take control of听their听spending,听get the best deal on foreign exchange听and slash energy bills.听

Oltuszyk, who founded Optimal back in 2008, is not a lawyer himself and听has 补听computing听background having听studied computer science at the University of Central Lancashire.听

鈥�I love technology and using it in improving efficiencies in the business.听FinTech became my hobby, and I was learning a lot about the tech which underpins major players,鈥� he tells听老九品茶Cloud.听听

鈥�Both me and co-founder have also witnessed a lot of difficulties with incumbent banks, which caused various issues to our clients.听听

鈥�We decided that we can build something new and make it do things on behalf of its customers.鈥�听

Frost, which employs 20 people including consultants, is aiming to gain its听FCA licence.听Self-funded to date,听the company will look to raise pre-seed fundraising later this year 鈥� when听Oltuszyk says听鈥渨e are closer to live MVP鈥�.听

Initially only be available to users who sign up to听, the plan is then听for a full听launch in听Q1 2021, with听international expansion听following.听

The CEO says it听will听differ from Snoop听–听an听FCA-approved app which connects to a customer鈥檚 bank account and suggests money-saving tips 鈥� because it is a full digital听account.听

鈥�Snoop is just an add-on app which sits on top of your existing account and feeds on data through open banking. We made a conscious decision that we don’t want to create another add-on app,鈥� he said.听听

鈥�We want to create an intelligent account alternative and encourage our users to use Frost as their everyday account. There are apps for everything financial, but who wants to have 10 different apps that sit on top of their account and feed on data?听That also creates a risk as you share your data with many different companies.听听

鈥�We want to have everything in one place, so you don’t have to download many different apps. We also believe that our energy comparison and switching feature will be one of the best on the market as it will be done with the least input from the user.鈥�听

Research from听MYJAR.com听shows the average person spends听拢200听a month on听purchases they鈥檒l later regret, while听MoneySavingExpert听says people could听slash their energy bills听by 拢350 a year or more听by switching suppliers.听

A joint study by Travel Money Club and the University of Wolverhampton also found we collectively lose听拢1 billion听a year to unfair exchange rates and hidden charges.听

COVID-19听had both a positive and negative effect on the development of Frost.听

鈥�On a positive one, it motivated us to work very hard and launch as soon as possible,鈥澨齟xplained听Oltuszyk.听鈥�With the lockdown fully mobile solutions where you can do everything from your app are very useful, and we were aware of it.听听

鈥�On negative one there is a lot of uncertainty about the economic situation.听Frost听is self-funded, and we are trying to spend money as wisely as possible during these uncertain times.鈥�听听