We’re delighted to be joined by Samantha Seaton, CEO of Moneyhub, a distinguished executive renowned for her fervour for FinTech and illustrious career, for an exclusive interview.
Could you share some key moments or experiences that shaped your career path in FinTech?
My career has been very varied, but a common theme has been my interest in technology and how it can improve financial wellbeing. I started off studying computer science at university in Australia, where I’m from, and began my career at Telstra as a graduate developer. My equestrian career and Olympic ambitions brought me to the UK, which is a discussion for another day!
I joined Towers Perrin (now Willis Towers Watson) when the internet and dot.com boom created a transformational time for businesses and their clients. I then moved to Tillinghast’s institutional financial services, which was the beginning of my financial services and FinTech career. From there I became CEO of financial forecasting firm eValue, and then Managing Director of Momentum’s UK Retail Investing.
Your passion for harnessing technology to solve real-life problems is evident. What specific aspects of FinTech drew you in initially, and how have they influenced your work at Moneyhub?
I’ve always been interested in technology and how when deployed well, it can be used to improve the financial wellness of people, their communities and business.
It was at Momentum that I met and fell in love with Moneyhub and saw the power it had to put the ownership of people’s data back into their hands and allow them to see their financial world in one place and the benefits this gave them. At the time, Moneyhub was a huge upgrade on the accounts I could connect with my ‘Egg’ credit card!
I knew we could propel Moneyhub and the technology it held far, and we conducted an MBO of Moneyhub in February 2018 taking the platform to market as part of our vision to improve financial wellness, the purpose that has inspired my whole FinTech career.
Being named as one of the founding members of the new pensions dashboard coalition is a significant achievement. How do you envision this initiative transforming the retirement planning landscape?
As an industry we urgently need to collaborate to launch commercial pensions dashboards for consumers as soon as possible. Working with the FCA, PDP and the Dashboard Operators Coalition will be instrumental in bringing an open and collaborative environment to commercial pensions dashboards, and in doing so, help millions of consumers achieve a healthier financial future.
International evidence strongly shows that consumers prefer to see all their pensions in a familiar, trusted app they already use, such as a banking, pension or money management app.
Through Open Finance, these apps also enable connections to users’ other finances, showing consumers the broader context of their financial position as it develops over their lifetime.
Diversity and inclusion are core values you champion in the FinTech sector. How do you believe fostering diversity within teams enhances innovation and drives better outcomes?
Having a diverse range of voices in our business is incredibly important to myself and the team in our quest to build a product that works for everyone. Without the right representation, we risk not having all the voices, insight and capabilities that produce the best outcomes for everyone. Integral to this is people of all backgrounds believing that roles in the FinTech sector are for them. Otherwise, we miss out on a stream of untapped talent.
To give examples of what we do at Moneyhub, we have implemented a number of inclusion policies that support this and give the team space to innovate and collaborate. Our flexible working policy allows employees to work remotely/from home as and when they want and balance their work around their lives. Even if this means working remotely from Mexico two weeks of the year! We are also committed to every one of our colleagues’ personal growth and ‘The Moneyhub stretch and Development allowance’ offers two days for personal development and a fund of £750 to spend on their personal development as they see fit.
While also making sure we are attracting the best talent, our recruitment team is committed to tapping into all parts of the market from both inside and outside, to try and build a team that is reflective of our society and that are driven to build products that best serve everyone.
Collaboration has been integral to your success, evidenced by partnerships with industry leaders. What strategies do you employ to cultivate such fruitful collaborations, and how do they contribute to achieving your company’s goals?
We’ve been fortunate enough to partner with some incredible brands and organisations who truly believe in the power of what we can do, and knowing the benefits we’ve brought to their customers is very gratifying.
Staying true to ourselves and our core values cannot be understated when thinking about the difference we can make to consumers’ lives. Open Finance is still at the early adopter stage of the curve amongst a lot of businesses, and it can sometimes be hard to help them understand the truly transformative benefits of incorporating it into their business model. Being able to communicate and demonstrate the benefits of working with us to potential partners has been vital to our success.
Another big part of cultivating fruitful collaborations has been staying ahead of the curve with our technology. From the nascent open banking revolution, through to open finance and now open data, our tech has been market-leading throughout and developed to support what we do for our clients, and ensure we remain the market leader.
Looking ahead, what emerging trends in FinTech excite you the most, and how do you anticipate they will reshape the industry?
As cliched as it might sound, the industry is already in the process of being reshaped. Machine Learning, alongside AI, for example, has been transformative to what we do. We lead the market in the development of machine-learning driven by intelligence and innovative payments and data technology. Our proprietary and groundbreaking solutions enable businesses to create systems that help people get more from their money. By providing a holistic view of their entire financial world, we can provide smart-nudge guidance towards better outcomes for the end user.
What advice would you give to aspiring professionals seeking to make an impact in this dynamic industry?
Never underestimate the power of technology and never stop imagining new and innovative ways it can improve outcomes for people, businesses and communities.
Maintain faith in yourself and what you are offering, and don’t stop being ambitious. While there may be criticism and a misunderstanding of what you are doing, treat these moments as opportunities to develop and evolve.