Women in FinTech Powerlist

Women in FinTech Powerlist 2020 shines a spotlight on Recordsure’s Founder and Executive Chair, Joanne Smith

We are proud to announce that Joanne Smith, Founder and Executive Chair at Recordsure and TCC Group, is featured in the Women in FinTech Powerlist 2020, in the Senior Leaders category. Joanne’s prestigious place on the Powerlist is the result of her outstanding hard work in the FinTech sector and her achievements over the previous 12 months.

The Senior Leaders category recognises leaders that truly drive forward change within the FinTech space, above and beyond their day-to-day role. While excelling in their career, they are passionate about helping others through mentoring, setting up support groups to share experiences or voluntary work.

Innovative Finance received over 1,000 nominations for the Women in FinTech Powerlist 2020, highlighting the remarkable growth of female talent within the FinTech ecosystem. 

Recordsure's founder Joanne Smith

I'm passionate about leading the industry change with FinTech. Being included in the Women in FinTech Powerlist 2020 is a vital recognition of my contribution to creating a fairer, more compliant industry and achieving better outcomes for financial services customers.

Joanne Smith

Driving forward change to transform financial services

Aware of the ongoing finance industry compliance issues and customer miss-selling ignored for decades, Joanne decided to drive change.

Founding TCC to transform the compliance landscape, this technology-enabled services business is now in its 20th year and the winner of the ‘Best RegTech Company 2021’ award in the FinTech Breakthrough Awards program.

Understanding the need to further leverage RegTech, Joanne’s vision for AI technology to help solve finance industry compliance issues and protect customers led her to start an innovative FinTech business, Recordsure. 

Recordsure’s unique AI analytics technology was built to close the regulatory gap, introduce transparency and accountability to protect customers. Financial firms benefit from compliance, reduced risks and remediation costs, and intelligence to improve customer experience. 

While her altruistic vision delivers tangible benefits to financial firms, the accomplishment Joanne is most proud of is her contribution to protecting customers and the positive impact on society. 

Joanne passionately supports female founders and is a serial investor in female-led tech businesses, addressing the 1% funding challenges of female entrepreneurs.

Women in FinTech Powerlist

Get in touch to find out how Recordsure’s Voice and Document Analytics help drive regulatory compliance, manage risks and deliver better customer outcome, on scale.

Get In Touch
Recordsure Logo

Expert industry analysis of the UK mortgage market and regulatory compliance

Live event synopsis

In response to the release of our latest whitepaper, ‘The UK Mortgage Market Review’, we hosted a live event with experts in the lending sector to delve into the research paper. Our whitepaper looks at the recent impacts on the mortgage market, emerging trends, and potential risks through regulatory compliance.

Our live event featured some of the leading minds in the field.

Steven Hewlett-Light, Head of Product Delivery at Recordsure, chaired the event and led the Q&A panel discussions with the speakers. 

Tony Wells, Guest Speaker, Head of Competence & Evaluation, Home Buying & Ownership at the NatWest Group

Craig Skelton, Managing Director at CS Financial Group Limited

Stuart Mosley, Director at SJ Financial Solutions

Andrew Montlake, Managing Director at Coreco

The UK Mortgage Market Review

The mortgage market has been undoubtedly healthy since the 2008-2009 financial crisis. In that time, the lending market has swelled to £280 billion. Although, in the first five months of the pandemic, over 1.9 million mortgage accounts were subject to emergency payment holidays, evidence that the pandemic has had a dire impact on the financial wellbeing of millions. Despite this, after the first lockdown was lifted, mortgage approval saw an increase of 66,300 applications being accepted, which is 7x higher than in May 2020, showing that the industry saw massive fluctuations monthly.

What will be the main drivers impacting the sector in the next 12 months?

To initiate this conversation, Steven brought Tony Wells in. Tony stated he was in an excellent position to answer this as he works predominately in a support function within NatWest where he can survey the entire environment facing the industry. Tony issued a prediction that included a myriad of external factors which would impact the industry. These included positive Brexit trade deals, which could see the industry benefit, a downward trajectory for the pandemic and a positive plan set forward by the Chancellor in recent days.

Craig Skelton took this point further. He stated that from his perspective, the future looks to revolve primarily around affordability for mortgage lending. Borrowers and lenders alike live on shifting ground at the moment, and any predictions on affordability come at the expense of understanding the next stage that awaits the industry. The current plan is to reopen many businesses in different sectors, but these plans could change as they’re depended on predictions about the virus, which changes rapidly, with no notice.

What are the main difficulties advisers face in months to come?

Our guests unanimously agreed that the main limitation that advisors face is the Brexit question. Uncertainty within financial markets casts doubt, which leads to unfavourable risk being taken on by financial institutions. 

Andrew Montlake lends accuracy to this by explaining that the Brexit trade deal is complete, however, the financial services trade deal is not. This impacts the short term issues where brokers struggle to deal with overseas clients, such as ex-pats or multinationals. The risk here is that these clients will move on and seek assistance from nations within the EEA, or for those that remain, advisers will have to comprehend and adhere to different financial regulations than those that solely apply to the UK.

Global pandemic and customer vulnerability

The increased level of customer vulnerability unquestionably brings new focus to process and compliance. Along with the standard mortgage application process, firms realise the importance of recognising customer vulnerability. Speech recognition AI-based technologies, like Recordsure’s Voice solution, play an important role in providing insights. They help highlight potential client vulnerability and play a positive role in assisting advisors to ensure fair treatment.

Recordsure‘s speech analytics turn customer conversations into valuable insights that offer unique intelligence to better respond to customer’s needs and circumstances.

To gain more insights from our esteemed panellists, you can revisit the session by watching the video from the event by clicking the image above. 

To be part of our next event, or to collaborate with us in the future, get in touch. 

Get in Touch
Adeline Han-Recordsure-Headshot-B&W

In the spotlight: Adeline Han, Programme Director

In celebration of International Women’s Week, we had the privilege to talk to some of the remarkable women who work at Recordsure about gender bias and diversity in the workplace.

To round up the inspiring and uplifting series, we talk to Adeline Han, Programme Director at Recordsure. Adeline shares her views on gender bias and stereotyping, and explains why inclusivity and equal opportunities are critical for personal growth and career development.

While discussing gender bias and diversity, Konstantinos Nikou, Senior DevOps Engineer, considers the integral role inclusivity plays in driving success for businesses and employees alike.

Adeline Han, Programme Director

In the early years of my career, I was told that I was too quiet, too timid or not technically minded. In the latter parts of my career, as I gained experience and confidence in my own abilities, I have been accused of being too aggressive, overconfident and too emotional.

Adeline Han, Programme Director
Adeline Han-Recordsure-Headshot-B&W

Career profile

Adeline studied Computer Systems Engineering in Australia, where she graduated as one of 15 women in a class of 100. In 2016, while in New York, she was one of 11 women in a class of 68 studying towards a joint Executive MBA with Columbia Business School and London Business School. 

Adeline’s career started with technically focused roles, yet she quickly gravitated towards more business and change-oriented roles.

At Recordsure, Adeline is responsible for the successful implementation and delivery of Recordsure’s solution across our Voice client portfolio. She is an active member of Recordsure’s CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) committee, championing initiatives and change driven by the UN Global Goals of Quality Education and Climate Action.

Gender bias in the working environment

Throughout her career across Australia, the US and the UK, Adeline has experienced her fair share of gender stereotyping and bias clichés. 

“I’m a petite female of Chinese descent in a male-dominated industry,” Adeline says. She recalls times when she was challenged for being too quiet and not technically minded, then later in her career, she was confronted for being overconfident. 

Adeline’s experience resonates with many women as they face gender bias in the workplace. She feels more positive about gender diversity these days as the gender stereotype occurrences have become more of an exception in the last 5-6 years. 

Diversity at Recordsure

Recordsure strives to be an inclusive employer that promotes diversity. Within my specific function, Product, Delivery and Marketing, we are one of the few functions internally who has a higher female to male ratio.

Adeline Han, Programme Director

Adeline’s function works closely and collaboratively with their technical and science counterparts. She comments: “Many within my functions do not have a technical background, but I’m happy and proud to say that despite this, we are treated with respect and with equal opportunities irrespectively.”

Now and then, the more technical team members need a reminder to switch back from ‘tech lingo’, but it is done with humour. Teams have an immense appreciation for each other and the advantages team diversity brings to projects.

Inclusivity encourages talent development

For Adeline, Recordsure’s inclusivity defines personal development opportunities that also benefit the business – and customers. Employees are given the trust and opportunities to expand their expertise beyond current roles to gain wider-reaching experience and challenge themselves.

I'm excited to work for a company that gives its employees trust and opportunities to expand their remit and realise their untapped potential.

Adeline Han, Programme Director

Konstantinos, similarly to Adeline, appreciates Recordsure’s approach to diversity and the effortless way the company creates opportunities for talent development.

Konstantinos Nikou, Senior DevOps Engineer

Between all the companies I have worked for, Recordsure is one of the top places where inclusivity plays an integral role in driving our success by ensuring individual voices are heard irrespective of the person's gender, ethnic background and religious beliefs.

Konstantinos Nikou, Senior DevOps Engineer
Konstantinos Nikou-Recordsure-Heasdshot-B&W

Konstantinos recognises that within Recordsure’s business and technology teams, gender diversity is welcomed and highly valued, especially when it comes to personal and professional development.

He praises Recordsure for offering opportunities that empower the pursuit of roles outside one’s field of expertise and working within cross-functional teams: “We, as a business, are able to provide excellent products to customers while ensuring that all team members can fulfil their potential.”

Culture of equality and inclusivity

Recordsure’s pro-active attitude to providing equal opportunities and recognising individuals’ achievements, without prejudice or bias, has been remarked on by female and male employees across the business. 

Joe Norburn, CEO at Recordsure, applauds the employees and teams for their positive contribution towards inclusive culture at Recordsure and their exemplary respect and support for each other. 

“I’m proud of the diversity we have at Recordsure. We are diverse and inclusive by instinct, and we haven’t needed to make it an explicit initiative. When it’s a natural part of the modus operandi and our culture, inclusivity becomes just how we work and the key to what makes us, us.”

Remarkable women of Recordsure

More articles

Maisie Mattison Recordsure

In the spotlight: Maisie Mattison, AI Training Lead

In celebration of International Women’s Week and gender inclusivity, we continue to turn the spotlight on some of the remarkable women who work at Recordsure.

International Women’s Week has helped draw attention to gender diversity, one of the leading diversity issues in the workplace. Maisie Mattison, AI Training Lead at Recordsure, talks about her experience with gender bias, inclusivity and the importance of women in leadership roles.

Joining the discussion is Ismail Antulay, Senior Tester at Recordsure, as Maisie and Ismail compare their views on Recordsure’s approach to diversity.

Maisie Mattison, AI Training Lead

When I joined Recordsure, one of the initial things that attracted me to the company was that Recordsure has a female founder. Having a diverse leadership team is definitely something I value in an employer." 

Maisie Mattison, AI Training Lead
Maisie Mattison Recordsure

Career profile

Maisie joined Recordsure in March 2019 as a Transcriber and Conversation Analyst after graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in English Language and Linguistics. 

Her interest in language has been the key to her success and, in July 2020, Maisie was promoted to the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Training Lead.

Gender bias in the working environment

Like many women, Maisie has experienced gender bias in the workplace: “In the past, I have worked for companies that had a male bias in leadership roles.”

This influenced Maisie’s decision when she considered her future career options as she sought an opportunity to work for an employer with a positive attitude to diversity.  

Diversity at Recordsure

Maisie views Recordsure as an inclusive employer, despite the technology industry being typically dominated by men, and finds it refreshing not to worry about being the only female working on a project.

On a day-to-day basis, I report to a female manager who has helped develop my skills and created opportunities for me. I work with incredibly talented and confident women in different areas of the company.

Maisie Mattison, AI Training Lead

Commenting further on Recordsure’s positive attitude towards diversity and inclusiveness, Maisie remarks: “Recordsure certainly has a diverse workforce.” 

Maisie’s experience of Recordsure’s diversity beyond gender is akin to Ismail’s.

Ismail Antulay, Senior Tester

It amazes me to find so many wonderful people from different countries, cities, knowing so many languages (apart from programming languages, of course), having sophisticated accents, willing to listen to each other, co-exist and work together as a team.

Ismail Antulay, Senior Tester
Ismail Antulay Recordsure Headshot B&W

Ismail joined Recordsure last year and was pleased to see the variety of people that ‘flocked together’ at Recordsure, who can express their thoughts and ideas with ease.

When asked about his view on gender diversity, Ismail feels that Recordsure is a diverse and inclusive employer. 

“We have women in every department, and it gives me immense pleasure to say that Recordsure’s top scientists are women. We have a fair balance of women as Project Managers, Business Analysts, Testers and Team Leaders.”

When it comes to Recordsure’s female founder, Ismail agrees with Maisie: “Our founder, Joanne Smith, is an inspiring woman.”

Recordsure’s pro-active attitude to providing equal opportunities and recognising individuals’ achievements, without prejudice or bias, certainly resonates with female and male employees across the business. 

Remarkable women of Recordsure

More articles

Roberta Carissimi-Recordsure_headshot B&W

In the spotlight: Roberta Carissimi, Science Lead at Recordsure

In celebration of International Women’s Week 2021, we are publishing IWD-inspired blogs to turn the spotlight on the remarkable women who work at Recordsure. We discuss gender bias and inclusivity, and what is it like to be a female working in prominently male-dominated industries.

Here, our focus is on the Science function as Roberta Carissimi, Science Lead, and Anthony Channon, Head of Science and Development, share their views on why women are still under-represented in FinTech businesses.

Roberta Carissimi, Science Lead

Career profile

Roberta is a data scientist with a passion for ML techniques and for using analytics to drive business decision-making. Originally from Italy, Roberta had the opportunity to travel and experience different cultures and workplace environments, including Rome, Chicago and London. 

“I joined Recordsure as the Science Lead when I was 6 months pregnant and was met with a lovely and very warm welcome from everyone,” Roberta recalls. “Recordsure has been nothing but supportive and I consider myself very lucky to have the opportunity to lead a team of very intelligent and unique people.” 

Roberta Carissimi-Recordsure_headshot B&W

Gender bias in the working environment

Roberta has experienced gender inequality in working environments before joining Recordsure: “Unfortunately, I have experienced gender stereotypes during my career, particularly in Italy where the situation for women is even harder than in the UK. Being a woman, you constantly have to demonstrate how valuable you are – more than men.” 

“While there is less inequality in the UK, the salary gap between men and women is still unacceptable,” Roberta continues. “As women, we need to be more confident in asking for more – more promotions, more money, more benefits.”

Diversity at Recordsure

At Recordsure, I never felt diverse from my male colleagues, and I have never been treated differently because I'm a woman. People respect me and my ability to do my job is not judged based on my gender.

Roberta Carissimi, Science Lead

That said, Roberta still believes that Recordsure can make improvements to further promote the inclusive culture, such as more female presence in the senior management and attract more talented women to the science and development functions of the business.

Roberta’s views are shared by Anthony Channon, Head of Science and Development, as we brought up the question of diversity and gender bias with him. 

Anthony Channon, Head of Science and Development

Like all technical functions I've worked in, I don't yet have enough women in technical roles in my team. This is something I'm actively trying to remedy through my recruitment strategy and the interview process I use to assess candidates.

Anthony Channon, Head of Science and Development
Anthony Channon Recordsure Headshot

Anthony manages Science and Development function with 25 scientists, software engineers and testers. The team includes five women.

Driving inclusivity is a work in progress, Anthony affirms: “Like all businesses I’ve worked in, I believe we still have more to do.” 

He remarks on men talking far more than women on calls, behaviour that has been exacerbated by remote working. Men are known to use physical cues during in-person meetings to assert authority (consciously or otherwise), in a world of conference calls, these behaviours are being substituted by talking more and over one another.

Managing Diversity

Whilst Anthony recognises there is a need to bring more female talent to Science and Development function, he feels that Recordsure’s approach to diversity is inspiring.

At Recordsure, women are promoted internally into roles within the business, both uncontested and in competition with their male colleagues. “This is a great validation to have that we’re generating opportunities and making them appealing to both men and women,” Anthony explains. 

On the whole, I consider Recordsure to be an inclusive employer. I'm proud that we have women at the top of our business visibly taking decisions that will set the direction for us all, coming right from the top with Joanne Smith.

Anthony Channon, Head of Science and Development

Anthony continues: “I’m also proud of the examples those women set to the junior members of our team, especially as we are a FinTech business, which, as an industry, has been traditionally dominated by men.” 

“I’ve been lucky to work with some really inspirational women during my career (and I’m married to one too), and I’ve tried to create opportunities from my network to help my female colleagues,” Anthony highly praises groups like Woman In Data.

The leadership team’s support of female employees and gender inclusivity is certainly felt across the organisation. This outlook encourages positive attitude to diversity across all teams and functions.

Remarkable women of Recordsure

More articles

Laura Wathen Recordsure Headshot B&W

In the spotlight: Laura Wathen, Finance Director at Recordsure

To mark International Women’s Day, we are celebrating female talent and bringing into the spotlight some of the remarkable women who work at Recordsure. We asked them about their views on gender bias, inclusivity and diversity.

Laura Wathen, Finance Director

Career profile

Laura started her career in investment banking, moved into investment and private equity, and joined Recordsure and TCC as Finance Director a year and a half ago.

Gender bias in the working environment

Laura has spent the majority of her career in traditionally male-dominated industries. In her first job, she was the only woman in the company who wasn’t a secretary. In her second job, in a much bigger bank, there was only one female managing director in her division of 100+ people.

Laura Wathen Recordsure Headshot B&W

“Truthfully, it didn’t bother me overly in my early 20s,” Laura says. “But in time I came to realise that while success certainly didn’t depend on your gender, it did depend on your assimilation to a ‘male’ culture, prizing total dedication to work above other personal commitments, particularly family.”

Laura continues: “Becoming a parent was the moment when I first properly felt my ‘other-ness’ and saw it affect my career, both in choices I made, choices I had to make, and in choices that were made for me.”

Diversity at Recordsure

Recordsure’s positive attitude to providing equal opportunities and recognising individual’s achievements without prejudice or bias, certainly resonates with female employees across teams and functions.

Consequently, for me, a hallmark of a workplace free of gender discrimination is one that trusts men and women to make choices about the balance of work and home life. I see a lot of this intention at Recordsure and applaud it.

Laura Wathen, Finance Director

Compassion during crises

In addition to diversity, Recordsure employees also commented on the empathy and support they received from colleagues, managers and leaders during the pandemic, helping them get through the hardship and challenges of lockdowns. 

Laura believes that working parents have been under extreme pressure due to Covid-19, but there is a silver lining.

It's been a very tough year to be a parent of school-age children. Perhaps one silver lining of that evident extra burden has been the respect and recognition that others now more readily accord working parents of both sexes.

Laura Wathen, Finance Director

Recordsure is an employer that has shown great empathy throughout the Covid-19 crises, a compassionate employer that celebrates diversity, encourages personal growth and provides opportunities, without bias.

Joe Norburn, CEO at Recordsure, comments: “At Recordsure, we are proud of our inclusivity and diversity, and creating working environments that promote opportunities and talent.”

Remarkable women of Recordsure

More articles

Joanne Smith-Recordsure - Headshot B&W

In the spotlight: Remarkable women of Recordsure

International Women’s Day is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the incredible achievements of women – throughout history and today. Challenging gender stereotypes, raising awareness against bias, be it conscious or unconscious, and taking proactive actions to ensure equality are the key themes of IWS 2021. 

The technology industry is notoriously stereotyped as a male industry. 

At Recordsure, we are a tech-based business focused on RegTech and FinTech. We use ground-breaking Recordsure-built Artificial Intelligence technology and utilise sophisticated Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing and Robotic Process Automation to build unique Voice and Documents analytics products for regulatory industries. At Recordsure, we are also a proud employer of incredibly talented women. 

The face of the technology industry is positively changing. Over the past decade, I have seen a significant rise in women entering the Tech industry, bringing diversity and breaking the stereotypes.

Joanne Smith, Founder

To mark International Women’s Day, Recordsure is taking the opportunity to celebrate female talent. This week, in our IWD-inspired blog series, we bring the spotlight to some of the remarkable women who work at Recordsure. We talk about their views on diversity and their experience of what it is like to be a woman in a prominently male industry.

Joanne Smith, Founder

Joanne is the Founder and Executive Chair at Recordsure and TCC, and a Chair CBI SME Council at Confederation of British Industry. When founding Recordsure, Joanne was driven by her vision for AI technology to solve finance industry compliance issues and protect customers. 

Joanne’s leadership drives inclusivity, the vision that is shared and promoted throughout Recordsure. Having a female founder, shaped the company’s culture, attracted female talent, and brought gender inclusivity to the organisation.

Joanne is an inspiration for many Recordsure employees, irrespective of gender.

Joanne Smith-Recordsure - Headshot B&W

I'm proud that Recordsure has created a positive, diverse working environment for all, employing a great number of brilliant women.

Joanne Smith, Founder

Driving the industry change outside Recordsure, Joanne also passionately supports female founders and is a serial investor in female-led tech businesses, addressing the 1% funding challenges of female entrepreneurs.

Joe Norburn, CEO at Recordsure, also reflects on the positive changes in the industry:

“The world has changed hugely in the 30 years since I started my career. I’ve been very fortunate to work in progressive and right-thinking organisations. I’ve had more female bosses than male, and that’s been nothing but a positive influence on me. 

While there is still more that needs to be done across sectors and workplaces, I do believe we are on the right path to make bias and gender stereotyping to become a thing of the past.”

Remarkable women of Recordsure

More aticles

Recordsure is Accelerate2021 Pitchfest Finalist

Recordsure, a finalist at #AccelerateR 2021 Pitchfest

We’re excited to be one of the finalists at #AccelerateR 2021 Pitchfest as a part of  #ACCELERATERegTech2021 event, on 25th March 2021.

Pitchfest is hosted by The RegTech Association and Commonwealth Bank.

To register for this event, visit The RegTech Association.

Get in Touch
Recordsure is Accelerate2021 Pitchfest Finalist
Kalifa Review of UK FinTech - Recordsure

The Kalifa Review of UK FinTech

An independent review for the UK FinTech industry, Kalifa Review, was published on 26 February 2021, setting out a plan for the UK to retain its global leadership in FinTech by helping the country’s financial technology firms to scale up, access the talent and finance they need, and deliver better financial services.

We are delighted to be showcased within the Kalifa Review, our case study appears on page 28.

View Kalifa Report