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Abound
Personal loans & SaaS credit decisioning platform
- 21-100 employees
- Fintech
- B2C
- Credit Scoring
- B2B
- Lending
- Financial Services
- SaaS
- St Katharine's & Wapping, London, UK
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Company mission
To make affordable loans available to more people. We have built award-winning technology to look beyond credit scores and offer fair credit to people ignored by traditional lenders.
Our take
Borrowers in the UK have been consistently over-charged in recent years, with lenders rejecting requests mostly on the basis of poor credit histories. Through Open Banking, Abound (formerly Fintern) is working to build a different approach that evaluates live transaction data, usually ignored by traditional lenders, in order to offer loans at more favourable prices.
Traditional banks are also slowly starting to use Open Banking data for income verification while other emerging firms, like Abound, are using it to support underwriting decisions. The company's technique allows it not to exclude people with limited or poor credit history and, instead, aims at defining a repayment plan that borrowers can realistically sustain over time.
A forward-looking approach is strongly needed in the lending industry, with the main improvement being the consideration in lending decisions of each customer's current circumstances and recent history. The challenge for Abound in the near future is to effectively exploit machine learning, technology and Open Banking Data while differentiating from the rest of the industry with its own customer-centric approach.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Benefits
- Everyone owns a piece of the company 📈Equity
- 25 days’ holiday a year, plus 8 bank holidays
- Save up to 60% on an electric vehicle through our salary sacrifice scheme with Loveelectric
- We offer all employees an affordable loan of up to £10k. The amount you can borrow may vary slightly, depending on your personal situation.
- Regular team lunches and events
- We invest in your training to help you grow in your career. Learn a new programming language. Sharpen those communication skills
- Free gym membership at the Circle Gym & Spa
- Free breakfast and snacks in the office. We’ll even cover your dinner if you’re working late
- Birthday cakes in the office
- Team wellness budget to be active together - set up a yoga class, a tennis lesson or go bouldering
- 2 paid volunteering days per year to all employees with the company charity - Spread a Smile
Company values
- Our customers come first
- We are all owners
- We move fast but thoughtfully
- We win as a team
Leadership
Gerald Chappell
(CEO)Ex-Partner at McKinsey and EY. After leading McKinsey’s Digital Lending practice globally, they got frustrated with how slow banks were at adopting AI and new technology - it was time for a change.
Dr. Michelle He
(COO)Ex-Director at EY with a PhD in Machine Learning. 15 years of experience in financial services convinced them that another way of doing credit was possible.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Abound
Dr. Michelle He (Co-founder and COO)
- We've always wanted to build the best possible team, regardless of accent, gender or background. Our team at Abound is diverse at every level. We help each other and work as a team to achieve our shared mission.
Endorsements
All
Intelligent people (3)
Meaningful work (2)
My opinions are valued (2)
Growing fast (2)
Data-driven decisions (2)
Challenging work (1)
Opportunities to learn (1)
Hard working team (1)
Supportive management (1)
Innovative product (1)
I've found that at Abound there is a strong work culture of support within and across teams to deliver technically challenging software & AI.
Data
Challenging work
Jan 2023
Whatever problem or challenge you face, Abound has a plethora of highly experienced and dedicated leaders happy to help. I always feel comfortable asking questions, including the two co-founders. The company really does encourage collaboration across all levels.
Data
Flat hierarchy
Jan 2023
Every senior leader at Abound has a strong quantitative background and there really is a lot of trust given to the data team to make things happen. Being able to communicate with stakeholders who have a grasp of the technical details behind data, AI & Machine Learning results in a data-driven approach to every business decision
Data
Data-driven decisions
Jan 2023
As part of a team of passionate individuals, I get to apply my creativity and problem-solving abilities to create meaningful work that has a positive impact. This role is not only rewarding for its technical challenges, but also for the chance to make a difference in the user experience of our customers.
Software Engineering
Meaningful work
Jan 2023
From my first day at Fintern, I have felt that my colleagues value my opinions and are open to my recommendations. The CEO is always willing to listen to my ideas, and my line manager consistently shows faith in my ability to contribute valuable input. Overall, I feel that my voice is heard and that I am trusted to make meaningful contributions to the company.
Software Engineering
My opinions are valued
Jan 2023
Fintern has experienced significant growth in the past year, leading to a constantly changing and dynamic work environment. Each month brings new faces and exciting opportunities to tackle evolving challenges.
Software Engineering
Growing fast
Jan 2023
Everyone at Abound is focused on innovating and always willing to experiment new approaches and ideas. It makes the environment very stimulating.
Data
Intelligent people
Jan 2023
Working in the data science team at Abound means developing a new way of evaluating the risk profile of individuals. It's super exciting to try to improve methods that have been around for ages and directly see the impact of our developments.
Data
Innovative product
Jan 2023
Data is at the heart of every decision at Abound. Every team at Abound leverages data in their strategic decisions but also in the day to day operations.
Data
Data-driven decisions
Jan 2023
The mission of the company is to increase access to affordable credit, and so the interesting work we are doing in the data team around modelling, decisioning and software development all work towards an important goal that we all get behind.
Data
Meaningful work
Jan 2023
Everyone at Abound is exceptionally clever, with industry leaders working alongside fresh talent. Some of the issues we face are genuinely new and challenging, and having this team around means we can tackle these in novel and unique ways.
Data
Intelligent people
Jan 2023
The founders Gerald and Michelle lead by example, having spent years working in the credit industry before leaving to prove they can do credit better. All of the management team are smart, helpful and driven to make the company a great place to work and a success.
Data
Strong leadership
Jan 2023
We're growing really quickly and starting to really deliver on our mission of increasing access to affordable lending. Everyone is motivated to keep pushing towards this and you can really sense the momentum in the office.
Marketing
Growing fast
Jan 2023
A growing company means more opportunities for all of the employees to take on more responsibility which is great for career progression. Everyone is also really helpful so if you don't understand something or want to learn more about a certain area it's really easy to.
Marketing
Opportunities to learn
Jan 2023
The team is incredibly experienced in lending. They've worked for decades in the industry so know exactly what the status quo is and how we can change it for the better.
Marketing
Intelligent people
Jan 2023
Every ideas, big or small are valued. Great ideas will get quickly implemented. You feel 100% improved in the whole process.
Product
My opinions are valued
Jan 2022
Management teams are hands on people, they work extremely hard towards company success and seeking challenges on daily basis. There are no hierarchy in the company, everyone is in charge of the whole company's growth and success.
Product
Hard working team
Jan 2022
What separates Fintern from other places I've worked is that everyone is laser-focused towards the same goal - increasing access to affordable credit. Everyone is entrusted to get their work done autonomously but at the same time everyone on the team is always available to help with anything. It's a very collaborative work culture.
Product
Supportive management
Jan 2022
