Could linking borrowing and saving boost financial resilience?

Speakers:

Jo Phillips - Director of Research and Innovation at Nest Insight

Maria Booker - Head of Policy at Fair By Design

Simon Ashton - Director of Product at Stream

Five key takeaways 

1. The gap is now about solutions, not diagnosis
   The panel’s message was that low financial resilience is well understood. The focus now should be on practical interventions, especially for groups consistently hit hardest, including single parents, renters, disabled people, carers, women, and some ethnic minority communities.
2. Linking borrowing and saving looks promising
   Nest Insight’s core hypothesis is that loan moments are powerful behaviour-change touchpoints. Instead of treating credit and saving as separate journeys, joining them up can help people build resilience while managing short-term shocks.
3. Small savings still make a real difference
   One important insight was that even modest balances can reduce stress and create breathing room. People value having a cash buffer for control and security, even when the amount is relatively small.
4. Early trial results are encouraging, with nuance
   Stream’s early “loan-to-save” and “save-as-you-borrow” tests showed positive movement, especially among existing savers. The panel highlighted stronger conversion where friction is low, and weaker impact where users must complete extra setup steps, especially non-savers.
5. Inclusive design and employer delivery are critical
   The strongest call to action was to design with lived experience, not assumptions. Employers can play a major role because payroll-linked products can widen access to safer credit and savings options, helping people avoid much higher-cost alternatives.

Summary

This breakout session focused on a practical challenge: many people need to borrow and save at the same time, so how can products be designed around that reality to improve financial resilience.

The panel's core message was that the borrowing journey is a high potential moment to build savings habits, especially for people who are less likely to be reached by traditional savings offers. Early evidence shared in session suggests linked borrowing and saving journeys can improve outcomes, but design quality and friction reduction are critical.

Jo Phillips set out the wider context from Nest Insight's research. Low financial resilience is concentrated in groups that are consistently overrepresented in vulnerability data, including single parents, renters, carers, disabled people, and people with mental health conditions. The argument was to move from diagnosis to design by addressing root frictions such as income volatility, bill timing, and limited access to suitable credit.

Simon Ashton shared Stream's product and trial journey, including opt-out savings design, a bank-backed savings product, and new loan-linked savings flows. Highlights included a reported increase in savings account adoption from 16% to 71% in earlier opt-out testing, workplace savings balances reaching £100 million, and strong early trial signals for linked borrowing and saving journeys. In one trial, 10% of non-savers started saving and 36% of existing savers increased saving contributions when prompted at the borrowing moment.

Maria Booker reinforced that product innovation alone is not enough. She emphasised the need for inclusive design, lived-experience input, and system-level support from employers, regulators, and government. Employers were positioned as a uniquely trusted channel because payroll-linked models can improve access and affordability compared with high-cost alternatives.

A key behavioural insight discussed was that people often keep savings separate from debt repayment even when borrowing costs are higher. The panel view was that this reflects the psychological and practical value of holding a cash buffer, not a lack of financial understanding.

Recommended next steps

• Design for real behaviour, assuming colleagues may need to borrow and save in parallel
• Use borrowing touchpoints to start or increase savings with low-friction default journeys
• Reduce sign-up steps at critical moments, especially for first-time savers
• Pair credit access with clear safeguards, transparency, and inclusive communication
• Co-design with people who have lived experience of financial stress and exclusion
• Evaluate outcomes beyond uptake, including emergency resilience and sustained saving behaviour

Bottom line

Linking borrowing and saving appears promising as a route to stronger financial resilience, particularly for people facing persistent income pressure. The biggest opportunity now is to scale these models responsibly through better product design, lower friction, and employer-led implementation.