Women in fintech drive the lending industry’s digital transformation

While women continue to make strides in driving innovation across a variety of sectors, it’s still challenging to find their talents and skills being leveraged at the c-suite level, especially when it comes to careers in fintech.

As banking goes increasingly digital, many women fintech leaders are in the vanguard of this evolution

According to recent research, just 6% of CEOs in fintech are women and only 30% of those who work in the field are women.

That said, banks and lending institutions are now realising the need to use fintech to compete more effectively, and they’re doing it by adopting fintech solutions that embrace consumers in new and different ways.

Advancing the strengths of female leaders

In the past, women across a variety of industries felt the need to align their leadership and communications styles with those of their male counterparts, believing this would help them be more successful.

This is changing as women realise the benefits of harnessing their intuition and empathy – two great strengths that are influencing workplace cultures as well as the services and innovation they produce.

The power of empathy is demonstrable. In one study by Catalyst, 61% of participants reported they were always innovative at work because of having a highly empathic leader, as compared to only 13% who were shown less empathy. Furthermore, since women tend to embrace empathy, this trait often carries over into the digital solutions they develop. When technologies are created through an “empathic” lens, the resulting solutions deliver a more supportive and customer-centric experience. This human-centered approach makes customers feel taken care of, not just processed. And it can be a big advantage, especially in lending when borrowers are naturally anxious about taking on debt.

There are female leaders in lending who are so passionate about serving people that they train their teams to remember that on the other side of every digital loan transaction is a real person, a real parent, or a real student with aspirations for the future. This ensures that loan experiences are facilitated in a seamless way, while always keeping the borrower’s goals and personal objectives first. This type of personalised experience can not only influence a customer to become a borrower today, but also inspire them to stay on board for many years to come.

Fintech solutions that deliver an “empathetic experience” for Gen Z borrowers can provide very valuable outcomes. As financial institutions use these types of technologies to deliver a positive experience for Gen-Zers who are currently seeking educational loans, they can also gain a unique advantage in encouraging them to return when they need to refinance a student loan, or even apply for their first mortgage.

Providing a personalised Gen Z experience includes using digital and social media platforms as forms of communication, offering digital origination tools that are intuitive to use, and providing financial literacy on how loans work (i.e. a student loan versus a mortgage loan).

Ways to embrace more female leadership

For organisations looking to attract and retain more women in fintech roles, here are a few tips that can put you on the right path.

Provide mentorship opportunities

One of the most important steps that any company can take is providing mentorship opportunities for women in the fields of finance and technology. Across many industries, including finance, c-suite executives must be passionate about helping women on their teams grow and excel. Furthermore, companies have to empower their executives with the financial resources and tools they need to develop comprehensive training and mentorship programmes for the next generation of female talent.

Organisations such as the Mortgage Bankers Association are making great strides here with their mPower programme, which is one of the largest networking organisations for women in real estate finance designed to provide networking opportunities, events and workshops, and educational resources for female leaders in the industry.

Embrace work-life balance

Many fintech leaders are also parents and caregivers. This is why it’s important to have work-life balance policies in place that allow them to excel at work without expecting them to sacrifice the time they need to spend with their families. Furthermore, when companies offer work-life balance programmes, they also experience many benefits, such as increased productivity, greater employee satisfaction, and increased employee retention. This is why many lending and financial organisations now have policies in place to encourage both men and women to put their families first, and to take the time they need to enjoy those things in life that matter to them the most.

Be open to new styles of leadership

As the banking sector goes increasingly digital, many women fintech leaders are in the vanguard of this evolution. Embracing their leadership can actually be transformational for the entire industry since data shows that women lead with a participative work style that inspires everyone on the team to engage and put their best thinking forward. This level of ideation can be a tremendous asset to any company looking to create the “next big thing” and stay technologically competitive in the marketplace.

As companies work to embrace diversity at greater levels, they can realise tremendous value in fintech by including more women as part of the equation. Since women are able to help organisations connect with customers beyond the logistics of just executing a loan, institutions who use their talents are able to build businesses that are more profitable and better equipped at supporting the financial wellbeing of the people in the communities that they serve.

About the author

Sara Parrish is president of CampusDoor, a third-party student and specialty loan origination firm.