LendingCrowd is delighted to announce that Helen McKay, our Risk & Compliance Officer, has been recognised in the Innovate Finance Women in FinTech Powerlist 2019.
Helen joined LendingCrowd in 2014 as our first employee, in the role of Senior Credit Risk Specialist. She was instrumental in building our lending policy and affordability assessments, ensuring appropriate compliance was in place from the outset. Helen’s invaluable experience helped LendingCrowd to become the first SME-focused fintech lender to move from interim to full Financial Conduct Authority permission in 2017.
As our team has grown, Helen has used her knowledge and experience to ensure that compliance remains at the very core of our business, ensuring consistency and providing guidance to new team members. She has been recognised in Innovate Finance’s list of leading policymakers and regulatory experts.
Helen said: “I joined LendingCrowd because I knew it could make a key difference to small businesses that were finding it difficult to get funding. I also saw a new challenge to use the skills and knowledge gained from my banking career to help a start-up business – an opportunity that doesn’t come along every day.”
Innovate Finance is the independent industry body that represents and advances the global fintech community in the UK. Its mission is to accelerate the UK’s leading role in the financial services sector by directly supporting the next generation of technology-led innovators.
Clare Black, Director of Corporate Affairs & Communications at Innovate Finance, said: “We were delighted to receive so many high-quality applications this year and grateful to our panel of prestigious judges who helped us to select the women who are moving the dial in fintech.
“I am confident that the Powerlist and other events that are part of our Women in FinTech initiative are paving the way to a fairer and more inclusive sector, although we cannot underestimate the distance we still have to travel to achieve this.”
Helen is a Fellow of the Chartered Banker Institute. Last year she was appointed Vice Chair of the Institute’s Membership Forum and Chairperson of its Edinburgh, Fife & Lothians District Centre.
LendingCrowd founder and CEO Stuart Lunn said: “I’m delighted to see Helen’s expertise recognised by Innovate Finance. As the first employee to join LendingCrowd, she played a vital role in our development and continues to make a significant contribution to our ongoing growth.”
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