Barclays is to buy an app designed to help children understand and manage their money, as it targets young people in affluent families.
The high street bank has agreed to buy the UK business of GoHenry, which provides children with personalised debit cards carrying their name, from the US fintech company Acorns, which will retain GoHenry’s US branch.
The deal, which has been agreed for an undisclosed price, is expected to complete next year. The app will remain branded GoHenry.
GoHenry, which was founded in 2012 by the British entrepreneur Louise Hill, offers prepaid debit cards with parental controls and a money management app for six- to 18-year-olds to save, invest and complete money lessons.
About 500,000 children in the UK have GoHenry accounts. Hill, a mother of two, started the