Five Building Societies Launch Digital Savings Challenge to Tackle UK Savings Gap

This UK Savings Week, Furness, Market Harborough, Vernon, Suffolk and Bath Building Societies have joined forces with the Building Societies Association (BSA) and fintech partner Doshi to launch the first collective digital savings challenge in the sector.

Together, the five societies represent over 250,000 members, who will now have the opportunity to take part in the UK Savings Week Competition via the Doshi app. The initiative marks a step change in how building societies engage their members — combining gamified savings challenges with data-driven insights to strengthen financial wellbeing and future-proof mutuals’ role in their communities. 

Digital financial coaching meets data-driven strategy

Through the Doshi app, members complete bite-sized interactive lessons, quizzes and challenges, building savings confidence while competing on a live leaderboard.

Behind the scenes, the participating building societies gain access to unique insights about their members, including:

• Future savings goals (e.g. home deposit, emergency fund, retirement)
• Levels of savings confidence and financial literacy
• Regional benchmarking to understand how member needs differ locally

This intelligence gives building societies a new lens on member behaviour, enabling them to design more relevant products, communications and community support.

Why now

The savings gap in the UK is widening. Research for UK Savings Week reveals that more than one in ten (12%) UK adults have no savings at all, while a similar number (14%) have lless than £1,000 put aside — leaving millions financially vulnerable.

Digital coaching is becoming increasingly important as younger members seek accessible, personalised, mobile-first experiences. Unlike static educational resources, interactive coaching delivers real-time, scenario-based learning — allowing members to practise money choices safely before facing them in real life.

Daniel Rose, Chief Executive of Doshi App, said: “This initiative shows how building societies can combine their community ethos with fintech innovation to deliver real impact. By working with the building society sector, we’re giving their members access to engaging digital coaching while generating the insights that societies need to serve them better. 

“For us, this is about laying the foundation for a more experiential approach to managing money — embedding premium services like financial coaching into the everyday financial experience that consumers will increasingly expect from a modern mutual.

Building digital communities for the future

This collaboration represents more than a one-off competition. For many of the participating societies, it marks the beginning of a wider transformation — expanding communities beyond their retail footprint to combine mutual values with scalable technology.

There is potential to expand this approach across the sector, helping building societies not only support their members’ day-to-day money confidence but also measure, benchmark and amplify their impact at community level.

Andrew Gall, Head of Savings and Economics at the Building Societies Association said: “UK Savings Week is all about helping people build financial resilience in ways that works for them. This new initiative which uses gamified challenges and digital coaching will help to make saving engaging and accessible for many, particularly younger generations.

“By embracing these innovative tools, building societies are finding new ways to support their members and communities. The Building Societies Association is proud to support this collaboration, which shows how our sector can combine tradition with technology to make a real and lasting difference.”