We understand the financially vulnerable like no one else. We have engaged with regulators, lenders, and borrowers to create a platform that meets the needs of this under-served eco-system. Using our technology, we are proud of what we have delivered and how consumers are benefiting from it.
Sam Manning, Chief Executive, Hope Macy
Business overview
Hope Macy is a regulated dynamic financial technology business that utilises open banking and credit risk analysis to prevent vulnerable customers from overspending and over-borrowing.
Their integrated and technology platform is built for financial institutions, primarily existing UK retail banks, lenders, debt advisers and utility companies, as they face increasing pressure from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to ensure fair treatment of customers in vulnerable circumstances.
Founded in 2018 and based in Newport, the company has obtained a unique FCA regulation as a payment institution, providing account management, payment services as well as credit risk analysis services to assist and understand vulnerable customers and businesses.
Management
Sam Manning, Chief Executive – Sam has an MBA from City University and spent 10 years at IBM, creating software technology for the financial services industry. He has since successfully created and then sold two firms – both providing data analytic services to the financial services industry.
He has a blend of technical development experience, commercial ability, and social awareness. Sam is motivated to provide firms better ways to understand their consumers before they offer financial products because he has seen his own son, who is autistic, fail to navigate financial services. When it comes to helping consumers, many firms fail to address fundamental access problems.
Business purpose
More consumers are falling into debt, unable to obtain credit, and others are falling victim to scams. To make it worse, many of those with financial vulnerability have mental health problems or are neuro-diverse.
Those who are financially vulnerable may miss bill payments, fall behind on rent, or default on loans. This leads to financial problems such as debt, poor credit, and homelessness.
According to FairForAll finance, 17.5 million consumers are in financially vulnerable circumstances, with some at a point of no return. The consequences can be financially and psychologically devastating.
To combat this, Hope Macy has created an integrated technology platform consisting of three core products:
- DataFlex - An implementation of open finance technology, searches a consumer’s financial data, and then uses analytics to pin-point reasons for vulnerability.
- Affordwise - A credit reference service, that creates a financial analysis report used to assist the consumer obtain affordable credit, arrange debt repayments, or find alternative sources of income.
- Family Connect - An automated assistant offered to consumers to look-out for financial transactions or trends that could harm them - if potential problems are identified, a family member is notified.
The platform is already in production across several lenders and debt management firms in the UK but requires extra funding to scale up to firms across the UK.
Funding
Our £1.5m seed investment, alongside a supportive angel network, allowed Hope Macy to extend the development and roll-out of its regulated Open Banking and AI platform across the UK to counter the growing problem of financial vulnerability.
What people are saying
We’re thrilled to be a part of Hope Macy’s journey with our investment – Sam and Graham will continue to innovate within the consumer credit space to produce solutions that will tangibly help those who are in most need gain access to credit fairly and affordably.
We’re here not just to get finance to businesses, but also to help innovators who create products that are going to make a positive impact in people’s lives– not just here in Wales, but across the United Kingdom. The new platform developed will be of genuine benefit to financial institutions that need to comply with the FCA’s newly introduced Consumer Duty regulations. We look forward to seeing their new platform go from strength to strength.
Jack Christopher, Investment Executive at the Development Bank of Wales
We understand the financially vulnerable like no one else. We have engaged with regulators, lenders, and borrowers to create a platform that meets the needs of this under-served eco-system. Using our technology, we are proud of what we have delivered and how consumers are benefiting from it.
Sam Manning, Chief Executive, Hope Macy
