The September issuance statistics hasn’t been updated. Perhaps @robert has been very busy recently? Or something else is going on? I hope it will get an update soon.
Then, looking forward, will we have something in October? Recently, the bidding process had always been starting on the first working day of the month, but as of today Friday 1 October, I have yet to see anything for the October issuance in the app. Are we going to delay or cancel the October bond issuance? It would be nice to see some communications about this.
Hey Roman, its AC - Rob is off and the team will be sending an email out soon with details, but let me beat them to it.
We have been working on a lot of new products as you know, including a 1% pa cash savings product, funded through our capital (same as the bonds) - and therefore, unfortunately the bonds (much loved but also limited due to their cumbersome setup both for us and customers) will need to make way for these new products.
I will try my best to make time Monday to announce to the community the various things upcoming in the roadmap (it’s been a busy 2021!) and also happy to do a bit of Q&A then on both bonds and overall Dozens.
I take it you are an avid bonds investor for us, so thank you for your custom and trust - it means a lot for a small fintech like us, especially when your trust transcends falling markets, covid, a global shipping crisis and what not!
Have a great weekend and speak soon!
AC
PS: #wearedozens veterans, apologies for my extended gap this time, but will try and make up for it in the next few weeks.
The 5% p.a. fixed interest bonds are Dozens’ first financial innovation . They were designed to introduce customers to investment products, and reward them for putting aside small amounts on a regular basis and setting it aside for a year.
And they’ve been a great success! Over the last two years, we’ve had 5,530 bids received for the bonds, of which 4,211 were successful. Over £3.6m worth of bonds have been issued, over £1.8m have already matured, paying out over £120,000 in interest to customers like you.
Now we have some new plans.
One of the limitations of the bonds is that, due to the cost of funding them, a cost we bear as a business, we have to limit the amount available each month. We designed a reverse bidding system which allowed the funds to be spread across as many people as possible. However, at a fixed 5% p.a., a rate unheard of in the market, the funds could still be distributed only so far. And, while this bidding system made it fairer, it added time and complexity to the purchase process, which naturally became a barrier for some customers. The bonds are fantastic at delivering returns, but not quite as financially inclusive as we’d like.
While we remain committed to differentiating the Dozens proposition through financial product innovation, the internal infrastructure investment – both in terms of time and costs – required to run the bonds, is not yielding as wide an impact as we would like. We believe, if we used those same resources for other financial products, we can aim for even more successful, and more inclusive financial product launches in 2022.
Cue… a new 1% product, that will allow us to bring returns to more people . It will be simpler, as it will have no bidding system, and the 1% p.a. will be on amounts up to £5,200 – so a potential regular earning of £1 a week.
This does mean that from today there will be no new issuances of the Dozens Savings Plc 5% p.a. fixed interest bonds. We want to stress, that if you currently hold bonds these will not be affected at all. Your bonds will continue, and your interest will continue to be paid monthly.
Finally we’d like to thank each and every bondholder for your amazing trust in this unique financial product, our team and mission , even through, what have been universally challenging times. We will be coming back to you soon with our new, simple, financially inclusive product – the 1%!
I had an £800 bid accepted in September. Yes, it’s the end of an era. The bonds were always the dozens advertising budget, and I guess there’s diminishing returns on them, and the rewards weren’t hitting the right people.
I had hoped for one final “big issue” to use up my ISA allowance. I guess I’ll stick another 5,200 into the new 1% account. Not sure where the rest goes.
I have no idea how much of my savings at dozens are actually in an ISA. Hope you can show this in the app asap (already requested in other threads).
Hi @Roman in case you haven’t already seen - here’s a link to AC’s thread with an overall Dozens update and news on the Community. I’ll close this thread for now, but if you have any questions please feel free to post them here Dozens: Overall Update + Community Changes
