Finance Monthly July 2019 Edition

Can you tell us about your career before joining Starling Bank last year? Following my Master’s degree in Mathematics at Oxford University, I made a natural move into the financial services industry in the City of London. Back then, I remember thinking that I really wanted a job that would actually enable me to use my Maths degree, so I chose to pursue an actuarial career in insurance, which is a typical route for a mathematician. I was very lucky that the company I chose, AXA, encouraged growth and was very supportive of women in the workplace. As part of my role there, I was able to move my life and career to Paris where I lived for four years - running predictive analytics projects mainly in Europe, but also in Asia. This is how I fell in love with the field of data science. However, whilst I enjoyed my role at AXA very much, I also found that I was often frustrated by the lack of progress, the bureaucracy and committees that we had to attend to in order to get things to move at a faster pace which I perceived to be a lack of a burning desire for innovation at speed. At the time, I became very aware that industries like FinTech and InsurTech were moving quicker, innovating and flourishing and I found myself feeling a bit jealous, as I really wanted to get involved. I remember hearing Anne Boden, the Founder and CEO of Starling Bank, on the radio one day. It was International Women’s Day, so she was talking about women in technology and FinTech, how women are part of innovating at Starling and how she wanted more and more women to get involved in all the wonderful things they are working on. I remember feeling very inspired after hearing Anne, so I wrote a letter to her and the rest is history - I’ve been at Starling ever since. Have you ever experienced any challenges in the workplace that have been connected to your gender? I am very fortunate to say that I’ve never directly experienced anything that I assume to be adversely impacting me because of my gender. But of course, I shouldn’t say that I’m grateful or that I feel lucky that it hasn’t happened to me and I suppose the reason I say this is because I have spoken with colleagues from both Starling and AXA who have found that to be the case – whether it’s been connected to the way they’ve been treated or how much they’ve been paid, etc. During my time at university though, I was often one of the few women in the room - certainly during my Master’s degree studies. I was hardly ever taught by female lecturers or professors at any of the higher education institutions that I have studied at, which I think is indicative of the problem and the fact that women are less present in these sectors and that, of course, has its own impact on the whole ecosystem. And in your opinion, is there gender diversity in FinTech? I’ve read a few articles on this, even before joining the field and there’s certainly work to be done here. I work in a purely engineering team at Starling which is certainly male-dominated, despite our best efforts for it not to be. Only 20% of the engineering workforce is female and at Starling, we are always actively on the lookout for women to bring into these roles. I think from the outside, it can feel like FinTech is a space where men are more present, as men fit the notion of the pro tech culture. However, if you look a little bit below the surface, you will see that there are actually a lot of powerful women movements within the industry and in fact, there are inspiring female leaders in the FinTech space - it’s just that there are less of them. Our CEO is someone who speaks very vocally about this and it is Starling Bank’s mission to bring more women into the FinTech space. What do you think are the biggest issues for women in FinTech? To be fully honest, I rarely speak to people who say that it’s really difficult to be a woman in FinTech, the main issue, however, is getting here in the first place. I think that for me personally, I was so inspired to join Starling and the world of FinTech because I heard Anne on the radio. But would I have made that jump if I hadn’t heard Anne calling out to all “ “ I think from the outside, it can feel like FinTech is a space where men are more present, as men fit the notion of the pro tech culture. 13 www.finance-monthly.com COVER STORY - STARLING BANK