Anna Luise Laycock

Lead Strategist at The Finance Innovation Lab

London, England

@anna_luise | LinkedIn Profile

Please provide a summary overview of The Finance Innovation Lab. What makes the organization unique in the London FinTech ecosystem?

The Lab builds communities for positive change in the financial system. We connect the disruptors – fintech entrepreneurs, established professionals and campaigners for change – and we help them scale their work. Our vision is a financial system that’s democratic, responsible and fair. One that serves people and planet, instead of itself.

Why are we unique? We’re systemic and we’re for-purpose. In a complex system like finance, change isn’t going to come from any one organization, campaign or coalition. We work across different levels of the system, from fostering niches of innovation to changing the regulatory barriers and shifting norms around the purpose of finance. We act as a catalyst for multiple change efforts across business, politics, and the public and civil society. Three of our four founders were women and we’ve been led by women since our inception, so we’re also fairly unique in terms of gender balance!

I lead The Lab’s overall strategy, business model, governance, operations and external affairs. So I make sure we’re heading in the right direction, financially sustainable, with the right culture and strong leadership, supported by effective systems and a growing reputation. I face internally, orchestrating our different programmes of work for maximum impact, and externally, building relationships with partners, funders, champions and influencers.

You stated your career pivot to FinTech was ‘a happy accident’. Can you elaborate?

I’ve always been motivated by making a positive difference in the world, but it never occurred to me that I could do that through money. I worked in fair trade, international development, climate change campaigning and community health, building my understanding of how we can create and measure social change. Money remained a necessary bore in order to get the important stuff done.

In my early thirties I’d moved to Yorkshire and was working in a small charity in a deprived area of Bradford when I saw a role with Ecology Building Society, which provides loans that help people live more sustainably. I loved the idea of working with people building a better, low-impact way to live, and thought I’d just have to tolerate the money bit. But I was totally wrong.

Once I’d discovered that money was simply a social technology – a language of trust – I was hooked. The more I learnt about the financial system, the more I realized that every social and environmental problem I’d worked on would remain unsolvable until we tackled the purpose and values at the core of the financial system. Just as importantly, I realized a better way of doing finance is possible: people created the financial system and people can change it. There’s no natural law that says the financial elite have to profit at the expense the rest of us. That’s why I go to work every day.

You have an extensive background working with charitable organizations. How does this impact your approach to FinTech solutions?

Practically, my non-profit background developed my skills in building communities, shifting mindsets, planning change efforts and assessing the impact of projects. Probably more important is the way it cultivated a determination to change the status quo – to ask the difficult questions, challenge the powerful and communicate a vision of how things could be. Many of my values go against the flow of mainstream finance and I’m a non-financial person calling for a total re-purposing of the sector, which means my work demands a high degree of self-belief and resilience. I’ve learnt a lot from activists and development workers far more courageous and strong than me.

How would you describe the Financial Services and monetary space?

Generally, I see a set of values which is at odds with the needs of society – and actually the needs of the people who work within the sector. I see a lot of bravado and defensiveness. You don’t hear many financial ‘experts’ saying “I have no idea how this thing works”. It’s an ego-driven sector. I want us to put the soul back – to reclaim a sense of service to society and responsibility to the people we serve.

I don’t think ego-driven cultures suit many people, men or women. But a culture rooted in myths of ‘rationality’ (read: lack of emotion) and ‘economic efficiency’ (read: ignoring the things that matter, like relationships) is particularly difficult for women, who tend to have higher emotional intelligence and usually have the majority of caring responsibilities. And a culture which interprets confidence as a sign of competence is one in which women are far less likely to rise to the top.

But the general picture doesn’t do justice to the pockets of progressive thinking. At The Lab we say we work with people, not organizations. Some of the brightest hopes for reforming our financial system may well lie within some of the least progressive companies.

“One is more likely to get divorced than change your bank account in the UK.” You quoted this in our initial call. Why do you believe this is the situation?

We have a very strange relationship with money. We carry it round every day in one form or another, it’s essential to our daily activities, it’s a source of status and one of the major causes of stress, but we just won’t talk about it. What conversations we do have about money are practical (Can we afford to go on holiday?) – but never personal (What does my money say about me?).

The situation is starting to change, particularly as the fossil fuel divestment movement helps people connect their values with their investments, but most of us still want to give the minimum necessary thought and time to money. In part, I think this has been cultivated by the financial sector: finance is seen as something for the ‘experts’ to understand and control. It’s a dangerous myth. If we don’t take control of our money, we’re not taking control of our future and the future of the communities affected by our investment decisions (or non-decisions).

How do you define innovation?

Innovation as a general concept can be good or bad, helpful or unhelpful, interesting or fairly boring. Does it help us move towards the sort of future we want, or is it just a nifty way to deliver the status quo?

For me there are three levels of innovation: first, innovation as status quo. This is the innovation that just improves efficiency within the existing paradigm. A better customer experience, or a more efficient way to manage transactions. Ultimately, it just helps the financial sector make more profit more quickly. It doesn’t inspire me – if anything it’s unhelpful.

Then there’s innovation that redefines the relationship between the company and the customer. That’s more interesting. It might offer greater transparency, give the customer more power or even engage with them as a citizen, not just an economic unit. This is where I’d place most disintermediation and some blockchain technologies, for example. It’s easily co-opted by the incumbents, though (blockchain being a good example here).

Finally, and most interesting to me, is innovation that changes the relationship between the financial system and society. These are ideas that redefine the role of the sector and the concept of value, the ideas that could change our whole relationship with money. I’m thinking here of values-based crowdfunding, apps for developing community currencies and tracking local economic flows, products that give the unbanked a way to manage their finances. That’s the innovation The Lab really focuses on - the gamechangers.

What has been your own personal experience as a women in the FinTech space? Do you believe the issue of gender diversity is being adequately addressed by organizations generally?

I’ve had the odd moment when I’ve got the message I don’t belong and should stick to the dusting, but I’m more concerned by the undercurrent of machismo that’s bad for men as well as women. This is a social problem, not a just gender problem. If we can’t express uncertainty, if work is a constant competition against our colleagues, if emotions are seen as weaknesses instead of sources of strength, everyone suffers.

That’s not to deny there isn’t a big problem in terms of representation. Most events I attend are dominated by one demographic: male, middle-aged, professional, suited, confident. Where are the other voices? How can the financial system serve society well if it only listens to itself?

Organizations need to address this in a systemic way – gender quotas, for example, are useless if you don’t develop a pipeline of female leaders, or if you don’t have maternity and paternity policies that genuinely support parents to manage their different roles. But it’s also about how we interact with each other. When The Lab brings people together, we work hard to break down the barriers between those with ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ status. We take people out of their professional roles and encourage them to relate to each other as human beings. When we’re facilitating discussion we actively encourage the silent, unconfident voices to take part. Many organizations need to consider whether the way their staff interact with each other, especially in group situations, is reinforcing the gender imbalance.

Who(m) do you believe has had the most influencing with respect to influencing your own career?

I’ve been lucky to move between sectors and work with some incredibly talented people. I really couldn’t name one, because I’m still being influenced every day by my colleagues and the people I meet. I have a lot to learn.

Who do you consider to be strong women leaders in the FinTech space?

Julia Groves of Trillion Fund and the UK Crowd Funding Association. She’s awesome.

What do you see as the 3 leading future trends for FinTech?

I’m going to give you what I hope will be the leading trends. I’m an optimist!

• Tech that puts the power to reshape finance in the hands of local communities – using apps to create community currencies and other networks of shared value.
• Tech that mainstreams carbon pricing – so in ten years’ time, we assess the emissions of a product as instinctively as we do the financial cost.
• Tech that enables everyone to actively engage in their investments, especially their pensions – building financial literacy, connecting people to the assets they invest in, enabling them to balance social, environmental and financial risks and rewards.