How we can use Fintech to make Banking more Ethical
Ethical Banking Fintech Webinar World-Region-Country

Webinar Review: How Can We Use Fintech to Make Banking More Ethical

Fintechs have provided new, innovative ways for consumers to manage their finances, driving many incumbents to work with them collaboratively to deliver better products and services. A big part of this is giving consumers access to more ethical banking.

Recent research has revealed that more than half of people in the UK believe that it has become more important for companies to behave sustainably – with interest in ethical businesses growing rapidly.

Fintechs are giving consumers better access to financial services, more choice, and more transparency. Yet some incumbents are guilty of what many consider to be unethical banking practices, so what can the financial services industry learn from fintechs who are leading the way as a force for good? And how can banks compete?

Broaching this subject in our latest webinar, is host Polly Harrison, features editor at The Fintech Times, alongside Simon Holland, chief product officer from Wealthify, Jacqueline Dewey, CEO at SmartMoneyPeople and Laura Rettie, CCO at 71a.

Webinar

The panel discussed progress that we have we seen so far and how fintechs have influenced the wider financial industry to make banking more ethical.

They also mull over what more needs to be done in the sector and identify the pain points within the industry that are preventing banks from operating more ethically.

Laura Rettie on ‘defining ethical banking’

“If I set out to look for an ethical bank, I’d expect them to treat their employees fairly and to give their customers full transparency about what their money is being invested in. For example, I wouldn’t expect an ethical bank to pay their top bosses massive bonuses and only pay some workers on a minimum wage. Or, I’d expect an ethical bank to consider loaning money to charities at a discounted rate or to consider a mortgage application for a single woman in her 40s who had her own business as fairly as a couple going for a mortgage.

“Saying all that, my caveat is that, what is one person’s ethical can of course be another person’s deeply unethical so we do have to be a little bit careful with what we mean by that as a term but for me that’s what ethical banking is about.”

Jacqueline Dewey on ‘how much does fintech influence the wider industry?’

“Fintechs have speeded up the process – they’re more accessible, they bring more information and it’s like they they shine the light on on a topic. In the big institutions it is difficult for them to move with legacy systems and the need to unwind a lot of investment policies. So fintechs are leading the way from that point of view and will drive others to do things more quickly.”

Simon Holland on what needs to be done to improve availability of ethical finance

“I would love to see change in education. If I’m brutally honest, financial education in the UK from a state perspective – and I am talking not just about school but also wider with adults and parents – is pretty lacking. That then drives in quite significant inequalities in society later on. What we’re seeing now in adult generations is that we have to do that education and we need to change that mindset and understanding. We can’t let another generation go by without understanding how to put money aside for the future.”

 

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