Robo adviser OpenMoney has purchased employee benefits platform Jargonfree Benefits (JFB).
The Manchester-based digital advice firm says this was part of plans to move into the workplace sector and extend access to affordable financial advice.
JFB will become part of the OpenMoney group of companies, with founder Steve Bee (pictured above) and director Andrew Rice continuing to have key roles in the business.
JFB was set up in 2013 with the aim of providing services to the SME sector, offering the 16.3m employees working for smaller and medium-sized companies access to the same standard of benefits as those working for larger firms.
As part of the OpenMoney group of companies JFB will have access to a wide range of resources that will enable it to improve its current proposition, while developing new innovations.
OpenMoney was launched in 2016 with the express aim of providing high quality financial advice to those with more modest wealth.
OpenMoney founder Anthony Morrow says: “While there is no single way to address the advice gap in this country, we believe technology and the workplace have huge roles to play, which is why the deal to acquire Jargonfree Benefits makes sense to us.
“The work Steve Bee and the team do will complement perfectly what we are doing at OpenMoney – making affordable, personalised advice available to the masses.”
Bee adds: “This is a hugely exciting moment for the business, our existing clients and the millions of employers up and down the country who care deeply about the people who work for them.
“It makes sense to me that the tools people need to both understand and control their own finances should be readily available in the workplace.”