Better Future
Our people are our driving force, creating growth and fostering innovation and we believe that when they thrive, our business does too. We seek to empower and support our people and wider communities, promoting diversity, learning and financial confidence to create opportunities for all.
Fintel's ESG Strategy
2022 highlights
Expansion of our risk ratings and investment reviews services
Accredited by Best Companies as an “Outstanding Company to Work for”
Published inaugural voluntary Fintel‑wide gender pay gap report
Financial Confidence
Using our unique influence and expertise, our focus is to increase financial wellbeing and inclusion by improving individuals’ ability to make better informed financial decisions and access products and services that meet their evolving needs.
Our focus
- Enabling consumers and financial intermediaries to easily assess the quality of a financial product through our expert ratings and investment reviews
- Educating advisers on the latest trends, products and regulation to help them meet their client’s needs
- Enabling financial intermediaries to identify and better support vulnerable clients
- Educating advisers on later life lending needs and products
2023 Priorities
- Review of the coverage and criteria of the financial products ratings portfolio
- Development of consumer financial education content
Providing Expert Ratings of Financial Products For Consumers and Intermediaries
Combining the most comprehensive product database in the UK with expert research methodology, Defaqto Star Ratings are the most trusted expert assessment of the products and policies in the market, recognised by 75% of consumers.
Based on expert analysis of over 43,000 financial products, Star Ratings enable intermediaries and consumers to assess the quality, features and benefits of a financial product at a glance, empowering them to make better informed financial decisions.
KEY FACT
UK Retail Financial Services is an increasingly complex market with thousands of financial products to choose from including almost 10,000 home, motor and travel insurance policies; 1,000 current accounts and credit cards; 1,000 life and protection policies and over 600 wealth and pension products.
Supporting Financial Advisers Through The Industry's Largest Education Programme
With over 10,000 financial intermediaries using Fintel’s technology or services, and over 400 industry partners working with us to distribute their products, we play a crucial role in connecting product providers and intermediaries to simplify a fragmented market. In 2022 we supported over 18,000 attendees at our events programme, the largest of its kind in the industry, educating advisers on the latest trends, products and regulation to help them meet their clients’ needs.
Educating Advisers To Support Financially Vulnerable Clients
In a post pandemic world and with contributing trends such as the rising cost of living, financial vulnerability is a growing problem for consumers. The FCA has focused keenly on vulnerability over the past few years, and we foresee that its interest in this vitally important area will only increase moving forward. To ensure our Member firms are well positioned to support their vulnerable clients we:
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Collaborated with the Financial Vulnerability Taskforce to promote best practice standards in supporting vulnerable clients. We support its aims of delivering positive, fair, outcomes to all and improving consumer access to advice and encourage early adoption of the Taskforce’s charter amongst our membership. - Expanded our vulnerability hub, containing comprehensive resources and guides helping advisers serve vulnerable clients.
- Launched a cognitive assessment tool to help advisers identify, assess and better support vulnerable clients.
Educating Advisers on Later Life Lending Needs and Products
The concept of later life advice has changed radically over recent years, as our understanding of clients' needs, objectives and plans has grown and shifted.
In 2021, we launched the Simply Later Life proposition, offering market leading support for firms operating in the later life market. Comprising a product sourcing platform, referrals solution and a comprehensive suite of compliance and educational materials, the proposition allows advisers to provide robust and compliant later life planning.
In 2022, we continued to expand the service to include: qualification development, training programme and later life compliance proposition, as we continue to promote better outcomes for this consumer group.
OUR CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS U.N. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Target 4.4 Increase the number of people with relevant skills for financial success
Financial confidence is one of our high priority areas and our focus is to use our expertise and influence to increase financial wellbeing and inclusion. 2022 saw us expand our ratings portfolio coverage, helping individuals make smarter financial decisions; launch a cognitive assessment tool to help advisers identify, assess and better support vulnerable clients; and develop a later life qualification, training programme and compliance proposition to help financial intermediaries support consumers in this increasingly important area.
You can find "Our Contribution to SDGs" here.
Our Thriving Workforce Framework
We're committed to building an engaging environment for everyone to thrive by promoting diversity, individuality, learning and development. To ensure that Fintel is an inclusive and rewarding place to work we continuously develop our knowledge, approach, resources and policies.
Our focus
- Sustaining high levels of staff engagement by monitoring and responding to our workforce’s needs
- Supporting our people to learn, develop and progress
- Ensuring our culture and policies promote a diverse and flexible workplace
2023 Priorities
- Review and formalise our approach to diversity and inclusion
- Launch a formal development and mentoring programme
- Deliver our wellbeing programme, aligned to employee feedback
- Improve our national Best Companies ranking
Inspiring Better Outcomes
"Our fabulous people are the key to our prosperity and we believe we succeed when they do. To enable us to achieve our long term goals as a business we are passionate about listening to the views of our people and taking action to create a supportive and inclusive working environment where everyone can thrive. Embracing employee feedback is a fundamental part of our culture and we’re very proud to have this recognised via our Best Companies achievement"
EMILY BLAIN
HR Director
Ensuring The Wellbeing Of Our Colleagues
We consider the wellbeing of our colleagues crucial to their success and in turn to the success of the business. Employee wellbeing, monitored through monthly pulse surveys, is reported to the ESG and Wellbeing committee at least quarterly allowing us to continuously improve our approach and policies, which include:
Wellbeing support, delivered via:
- Monthly calendar of activities spanning mental, physical, financial, career and social wellbeing
- Inclusion of a wellbeing section in quarterly performance reviews and introduction of a dedicated wellbeing group on our company communication hub to promote open communication
- Access to funded medical cash plan helping our colleagues cover the cost of everyday healthcare and other discounted health support and screening services
- Access to a financial wellbeing and money management companion tool
Mental health support, including:
- Access to a free, confidential employee assistance programme
- Internal qualified Mental Health First Aiders across the business
- Mandatory annual training for all employees on positive mental health at work
Health and safety policy, ensuring that we:
- Provide and maintain safe and healthy working conditions, equipment and systems of work for all our employees
- Provide such information, instruction, training and supervision that may be needed for the purposes of complying with any requirements to eliminate or reduce the effect of the hazards created by our operations
8.0/10
average employee rated wellbeing score
Building An Inclusive Culture
We believe that a supportive and inclusive culture is key to our success as individuals and an organisation, and we recognise that people from diverse backgrounds and experiences bring valuable contributions and perspectives.
These values are built into our organisational DNA, underpinning our approach and our culture, and we consistently monitor and reinforce them.
Our approach includes:
- Ensuring that we recruit, develop and promote people for their aptitude, skills, experience and ability.
- Mandatory annual diversity, equality, and unconscious bias training for all our colleagues.
- “Inclusive” behaviour built into the performance review, rating and reward process.
- Perceived inclusivity being monitored across the business via regular pulse surveys.
- An employee induction programme and culture guide, helping new colleagues to feel like a part of the team from day one.
- A flexible working promise and dress for the right mindset approach, allowing our people to customise their work routines to balance their work and personal lives and feel comfortable and authentic at work.
- Enhanced family policy entitlements, including maternity leave and paternity leave, as well as new modern paid policies such as menopause, fertility leave and pregnancy loss.
9.2/10
is how our colleagues rate our level of inclusivity and equality
Focus on Engagement and Reward
Our people are our key asset, and we strive to create a collaborative and engaging environment, offering fair reward and recognition for the hard work they contribute to our shared success.
Our approach includes:
- Monthly ‘pulse’ surveys to monitor employee satisfaction across key criteria, allowing us to identify trends and respond to feedback in real time.
- Regular company updates run by senior management and quarterly Fintel wide updates hosted by our CEOs to ensure our people are kept updated on the strategic direction and progress of the business.
- Regular formal and informal staff recognition to celebrate those who demonstrate our values and behaviours.
- A Flexible Benefits platform, providing staff with access to flex their Company benefits package according to their own needs.
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Ensuring we pay all our employees a real living wage as a minimum, evidenced through our real living wage employer certification.
82%
Employee engagement score
Promoting Learning And Development
We have robust support structures and development programmes in place to ensure that our people have access to resources, support and opportunities at all levels. This includes:
- Appointment of a Head of Talent and Development to implement structured progression programmes via talent development and succession planning.
- Inclusion of a personal growth section within the quarterly performance reviews to embed development and progression planning.
- Dedicated sponsorship budget for those who have professional qualification or development needs.
- Promotion of apprenticeships, external manager development programmes and funding of professional qualifications aligned to our colleague’s progression ambitions.
- A career site increasing visibility of internal opportunities across the organisation.
- Online learning platform available to all staff, with access to support materials and e-learning.
- Operation of a HR business partner model to ensure that all managers have dedicated development support.
50%
of managerial vacancies were filled internally in 2022
Collaborating with The Industry
Industry collaboration is a key enabler in our focus on diversity and inclusion, ensuring we contribute to building a fairer and more inclusive industry, whilst also implementing best practice in our own approach. Some of our recent collaborations and memberships include:
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Inaugural membership of Progress Together, a government backed membership body focused on driving socio-economic diversity at senior level across the UK financial services through sharing best practice with our industry peers. -
Inaugural membership and active support of Diversity & Inclusivity Finance Forum, advocating a more balanced and fairer mortgage industry. -
Founding membership of the Mortgage Industry Mental Health Charter, providing a framework for member firms to improve mental health support across the sector and within their organisations.
Our contribution towards U.N. Sustainable Development Goals
Target 10.2 Promote universal social, economic and political inclusion
We made significant progress in our “thriving workforce” focus area in 2022 with the launch of our flexible staff benefits platform and enhanced policies including new family focused policies to promote wellbeing and engagement, and attract a broader range of talent.
In May, we became inaugural members of Progress Together, a membership body focused on levelling up opportunities across the UK financial services industry through sharing best practice with industry peers. Our membership cements our commitment to promoting diversity in our business and the sector as a whole, evidenced through our employee voted equality perception score of 9.2/10.
You can find "Our Contribution to SDGs" here.
Community Engagement
We seek to drive positive change for wider communities both directly through sponsorship of worthy causes and indirectly supporting the endeavours of our colleagues.
Our focus
- Supporting the growth of financial services sector
- Giving back to local communities
2023 Priorities
- Continue to support the We Are Change initiative designed to attract new talent into the financial services industry
- Support local charities chosen by our staff
Supporting The Growth Of Financial Services Sector
We are proud to support the We Are Change initiative designed to attract new talent into the financial services industry. The programme supports individuals through their Level 4 Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning with the CII, preparing them to succeed in a range of entry-level roles within financial services.
55
is the average age of financial advisers in the UK and one in five plans to retire in five years
Charity Support
Our colleagues choose local causes to support throughout the year, as a way of giving back to our local communities.
We are proud to be named a Platinum Partner of the Forget Me Not Children's Hospice for 2022. We are dedicated to supporting the incredibly valuable work they do, both for young people experiencing life limiting illnesses and their families.
"We were delighted that SimplyBiz became our Platinum Partner in 2022. We are honoured to be working even more closely with the team this year and can’t thank them enough for the support they’ve offered over the years!”
CHARLIE ROEBUCK
Forget Me Not Hospice
Ken Davy, Chair of Fintel and President of the hospice's Platinum Partner consortium, presents Kerry Boyle, Chair of the SimplyBiz charity committee with the official partner trophy.
Other causes we supported throughout 2022 include:
