Elixirr and Thomas Cook Money aim to disrupt holiday financial services

Consulting firm Elixirr and Thomas Cook Money (TCM) have signed a strategic partnership to create a new holiday money solutions service. The agreement will see a team of Elixirr advisors work with TCM to help customers plan their future holiday spending.

Thomas Cook has been a keystone member of the holiday industry for 175 years, providing much needed get-aways for millions of customers in that time. Despite the length of time the group has been a market leader, however, it remains keen to innovate. Lately, this has seen the launch of Thomas Cook Money with a view to disrupt the holiday financial services market and present added value to customers.

Thomas Cook Money was launched in November 2017 to transform the holiday money and insurance services it provides to its customers, to give them more control. It aims to take care of holiday money all year round, not just for the two weeks of a holiday. Despite its limited life-span, to date the new group has already launched three innovative products – Lyk, Roam and Sumo – to help eradicate the ‘financial hangover’ that often greets customers when they arrive home from a supposedly relaxing break.

UK-based consultancy Elixirr has been involved with TCM from its inception, but the two entities have now announced a new strengthening of their business relationship, with the signing of a new strategic agreement. The five-year deal will see a dedicated team from Elixirr will work with Thomas Cook Money’s team with the ambition of helping customers plan, save, borrow and spend their holiday money, both at home and abroad. The team will be led by Graham Busby, a Partner and co-founder of Elixirr.Established in 2009, Elixirr is one of Europe’s fastest growing management consulting firms, and across its consulting and creative businesses, the Elixirr team will bring strategy, guidance and lean startup methodologies, such as design thinking and rapid prototyping, to enable Thomas Cook Money to deliver new products that truly put the customer at the heart of the business. They have already successfully secured partnerships for Thomas Cook Money with Europe’s leading seedfund, Seedcamp, and alternative digital banking provider, Revolut. Elixirr has already built a reputation for enabling clients to meet market demand for innovative solutions and respond to industry disruption. The firm, which also supports innovation via its start-up accelerator Elixirr Capital, will itself be investing throughout the five year period, in return for a profit share at the end of the partnership.

Graham Busby said of the new project, “This partnership is a great example of the risk-reward model that we offer our clients. We’re always prepared to put skin in the game and invest some of our fees if we believe in the outcome – and we certainly do with Thomas Cook Money. We share the same entrepreneurial values and we are very confident that we will deliver above and beyond expectations.”

Anth Mooney, Chief Financial Services Officer of Thomas Cook Money, added, “A new division like Thomas Cook Money would typically take two years to build, but we have managed to build it together in just eight months. The quality of the Elixirr team and their network have been fully aligned with our vision. We are very ambitious and are excited about what this partnership will deliver. Together, we want to define a whole new category of holiday money.”