Barclays is set to acquire GoHenry, a mobile app designed to teach children financial literacy, as part of its strategy to attract younger customers from affluent families.
Acquisition Details
The high street bank has agreed to purchase the UK business of GoHenry, which provides personalized debit cards for children, from the US fintech company Acorns. Acorns will retain GoHenry's US operations. The deal, for an undisclosed sum, is expected to close next year, and the app will continue to operate under the GoHenry brand.
About GoHenry
Founded in 2012 by British entrepreneur Louise Hill, GoHenry offers prepaid debit cards with parental controls and a money management app for children aged six to 18. Users can save, invest, and complete financial lessons. Approximately 500,000 children in the UK hold GoHenry accounts. Hill, a mother of two, conceived the idea after hearing other parents complain about their children's spending habits during school pickups.
The business was reportedly valued between $250 million and $500 million in 2022. Hill sold it to Acorns in 2023 and remained executive chair.
Strategic Importance
Vim Maru, Barclays UK chief executive, stated that the acquisition would “turbocharge” the bank's offerings for households and families. Hill emphasized that the brand “isn't going anywhere” but can achieve more under Barclays' ownership. She added, “It also enables us to offer GoHenry members a pathway to continue their money journey when they hit 18, because financial education shouldn't have a start or end date.”
GoHenry has over 2 million customers across France, Spain, Italy, the US, and the UK, employing about 200 people. Originally named PKTMNY (pronounced “pocket money”), Hill later called it “stupid” due to pronunciation and spelling difficulties. The name changed 18 months later, inspired by its first customer, an 11-year-old boy named Henry from Bristol.
Market Context
The acquisition gives Barclays a stronger foothold in the youth banking market, as established UK banks defend their customer pipeline from fintech rivals like Revolut and Monzo, which launched interest-bearing savings accounts for children as young as six last year. Barclays is playing catch-up with NatWest, which bought the children's pocket money app RoosterMoney in late 2021.
Benjamin Toms, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, noted that GoHenry has been loss-making overall, making this acquisition more about “cross-selling and customer inertia” given low UK bank switching rates. “This is about acquiring customers, which is expensive in the UK, where there is quite large inertia … They're not really getting large deposit balances, but are deepening the relationship with families,” he said.
High street banks are increasingly targeting wealthy families for growth, seeking to reduce reliance on income from everyday loans tied to interest rate fluctuations. Barclays recently lost a bidding war for wealth manager Evelyn Partners to NatWest, while Lloyds took full control of its venture with Schroders, rebranding it as Lloyds Wealth.
Barclays informed investors on Friday that the acquisition would reduce its CET1 ratio by about five basis points but would not affect its financial targets for 2026 or 2028. Shares in the FTSE 100 bank rose nearly 5% on Friday.
