Gretel, the UK platform that helps people find lost money, has been named a finalist for the ITV Growth Accelerator Award at the 2026 Lloyds British Business Excellence Awards.
Founded in 2022, the company operates at the intersection of technology, financial resilience and social impact, enabling consumers to reconnect with lost and forgotten savings, pensions, investments and insurance products through a single, free platform.
Designed to replace a fragmented and often frustrating process, Gretel allows individuals to search millions of records from leading financial providers in minutes rather than months. Unlike traditional tracing services, the company says, it is the only platform built to operate across every major sector of financial services, and it has been designed with accessibility at its core to support vulnerable consumers, bereaved families and those with low financial confidence. Its users range in age from 18 to 104.
Trusted partnerships across the industry
Since launch, Gretel says it has grown to serve hundreds of thousands of consumers and has established partnerships across banking, insurance, pensions, investments and the mutual sector. The business has twice been named Technology Partner of the Year at the British Bank Awards, which it presents as a reflection of its record on customer outcomes and industry trust. Those relationships, it says, allow records to be searched at scale while keeping the service free for the consumers who use it.
The power of trusted media
Gretel has also shown the value of trusted media in driving engagement. Appearances on ITV, BBC and national radio, including ITV’s Martin Lewis Money Show Live, have helped hundreds of thousands of people search for lost assets, the company says, and have contributed to hundreds of millions of pounds being reunited with consumers.
A national initiative
In 2026, Gretel launched Billions 4 Millions, an industry-wide initiative bringing together firms across insurance, pensions, investments and mutuals to strengthen financial resilience by helping reconnect the public with billions of pounds in lost assets. The campaign, it reports, has attracted widespread support across the financial services sector and is becoming one of the largest collaborative consumer initiatives undertaken by the industry.
What differentiates the company, it argues, is not simply its technology but its ability to bring together consumers, financial institutions and industry bodies around a shared purpose. By combining innovation with collaboration, Gretel says it is helping transform the way the financial services industry reconnects people with money that is rightfully theirs, improving financial resilience and delivering measurable social impact at national scale.
As a finalist in the ITV Growth Accelerator Award, Gretel joins a shortlist of high-growth UK businesses recognised for commercial momentum and national ambition. Winners of the Lloyds British Business Excellence Awards will be announced on 10 November 2026 at Grosvenor House in London.
