Overheard at Credit Week...DAY ONE

The day carried on with sessions covering the key themes and issues facing the financial services sector.

In the panel discussion, Does your technology support vulnerability?, panel chair, Vanessa Northam, Head of Charity Development, StepChange gave ’credit’ to Credit Strategy for using live captions in an effort to improve the accessibility of the event.

On that same panel Chris Fitch, Research Fellow, University of Bristol said: "When we talk about tech, we bandy about these words, with tech we look at the application rather than the infrastructure – we don’t need innovation we need infrastructure. Such as stair climbing wheel chairs – great - but why not just create accessible buildings."

Beth Whelan, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, TDX Group added: "Digitise journaeys have opened up access for a lot of people butwe need to remember there are still a lot of people who can engage digitally, so we need to build support journeys with those needs in mind."

Another session, Humanising your business decisions: Delivering better outcomes with new data concepts, saw a very personal presentation from, by Gareth Howell, Head of Data Solutions, TransUnion, who shared his own story of becoming vulnerable and how he managed to slip through the net of a traditional risk assessment strategy. 

Chris Leslie, CEO, CSA, chaired the panel discussion, How can collections teams prepare for arrears driven by higher interest rates?, set the scene with: "The a wave of arrears didn’t hit the we expected, – and perhaps that’s down to the pandemic, the amount of potential arrears have now mounted up with a lot of customers finding the new norm very challenging with inflation high and cost of living pushing higher."

A lot of pressure in the system right now – and we need to look at making usre we monitor the external inputs to the system. We’re seeing the solid burners who have always been the balance in the system – because they are sensible and reliable – but now these higher rates are challenging  them much more – interestingly those more near prieme customers are much more adept at side hussels for additional income when needed, where as your typical professional doesn’t have that capability."

In a Risk panel Catching the Customer Before They Fall Jo Causon, CEO, The Institute of Customer Service, discussed the importance of customer trust and reputation. “In a world where trust is low reputational damage is crucial” she said adding that stigma plays a part in admitting financial vulnerability. Causon recalled when someone scammed her card saying, “The wording of the letter gave me sheer panic". She stressed the need for empathetic people who have walked in the shoes of the customers. “It’s also about reputation. It’s not just about collection, it’s about impact and the type of brand and purpose.”

Full sessions will soon be available for Premium Members, on the On Demand section of the website