Cost of living crisis: Interview with Suzanne Jones

Fintech is all about solving big problems. At least, it should be. One of the most important premises of fintech is that it is a wave of innovation that is changing financial services for the better. Ultimately changing the world for the better. It is obviously quite exciting when fintech startups decide to attack seemingly complex issues. Be it creating new jobs and trying to bring a few innovative solutions together. Or tackling a growing problem like the cost of living crisis. Fintech Review asked a few questions to Suzanne Jones, Co-Founder and COO of Fintellity.

Tell us more about Fintellity. What is your elevator pitch?

Fintellity is a Fintech startup tackling the cost-of-living crisis. We do that with a suite of eco-friendly products which facilitate socially responsible payments. We are preventing and correcting unaffordable debt providing customers with financial safety and keeping businesses compliant and thriving.

What is your background and what is the story behind the company?

I have over 22 years experience working in Software QA and Testing across multiple sectors, including leading teams in Fintech and delivering highly available and compliant cloud based financial products in the UK and US.

While in this industry, I have been fortunate to work alongside some passionate, hard-working, and incredibly talented peers, who, like me, want to make a difference. We were tired of watching society struggle with increasing costs and unaffordable debt while Fintech boomed.

We have the skills, determination, and innovation. So it was inevitable that we would utilise what we have learned working together as a team, and use it to make a positive impact in our own business.

What is the cost of living crisis?

The UK economy is feeling the impact of Brexit, the pandemic and the Ukrainian war. Inflation is rising which means the cost of goods and services are soaring.

Unfortunately, wages and salaries are not increasing at the same rate as inflation. In turn, this is significantly reducing people’s disposable and discretionary income. This is resulting in basic amenities becoming unaffordable for many people.

Businesses are also impacted by inflation. It increases their general operational costs, such as utilities to run premises, fuel costs to complete services and deliveries, and supply chain expenses for goods, materials, hardware & software.

With consumers budgeting more and spending less, businesses providing non-essential products and services are already feeling the pinch. In summary, everyone is impacted by this situation and we are all in this together.

How is Fintellity looking to solve this problem?

Independent businesses have been struggling throughout the pandemic. Our QR Payments help them save costs on payment transactions and get access to instant money. Ultimately, it helps with their flow of funds, which eases pressure on rising fuel and utility costs.

Fintellity also provide an Onboarding and Payment API which is a one-stop-shop for KYC, Affordability data, Source of Funds Checks and payments. It helps to automate applications for online businesses providing regulated products and services, preventing financial crime and unaffordable debt.

Any innovation in fintech more broadly that you are really excited about?

One innovation that really excites me is the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in Fintech. Although some financial institutions have been investing in AI for decades, the impact it can have in the current and future climate is all the more relevant now.

We are all used to the early examples of AI seen in chat-bots answering customer service queries and then tailoring future queries based on that history. However, the future of hyper personalisation of services to provide clients with the perfect service is inevitably going to be a significant game-changer.

There is a huge opportunity in combining AIs capacity in learning quickly from huge amounts of data and human interaction, tailoring shopping and streaming services and predicting future spending habits, could be a solution to our main global challenges.

Any plans for the future or product roadmap you want people to know about?

Credit scores look at people’s history but affordability data reflects the here and now. Everything is geared around people who already have money (investments, trading, savings).

We are helping those people with poor credit scores and negative disposable income get access to regulated products and services in a controlled and safe way with our new app – the first version coming soon!