Chief executive Nick Woodward said late payment from jobs agencies is one of the main reasons why people fall into the hands of payday lenders. ETZ will advance cash to the agencies that use its software, which they can use to pay gig economy and temporary workers on their books on same the day they file their time sheets. Those agencies will pay back ETZ when their clients pay them, plus a fee.
Henderson said the firm is seeking authorisation from City regulators for its lending arm and is raising £10 million from institutional investors to finance it. It hopes to complete the fund raising in the summer.