Watch: In Conversation with Tim Rooney at Salad Money

Fintech’s potential to drive social change is becoming increasingly recognised, with initiatives targeting financial inclusion, underserved markets and sustainability.

Salad Money, a community development financial institution (CDFI) and the UK’s largest consumer lending CDFI, is leading the charge in this space.

Following Fintech Awards London, Tim Rooney, global customer sales director at Salad Money and sponsor of the Fintech for Good category, spoke with Matt Hyde about the company’s purpose-driven approach, the role of open banking in improving financial access, and why the awards hold a special place for him.

Rooney highlighted Salad Money’s mission to deliver financial support using innovative tools like open banking. “We started trading back in May 2019. We’ve lent over £82million to nearly 70,000 customers since we started, solely using open banking to make credit decisions,” he shared.

The focus on open banking reflects the company’s commitment to fairer lending practices. “Open banking is a real live proxy of the propensity of a consumer to be able to take on a further financial commitment,” Rooney explained. “Credit scores don’t really work for the near-prime and subprime customers that we see. In fact, 10 per cent of the people that we’ve lent to don’t even have a credit score.”

Balancing purpose and profit

As a CDFI, Salad Money operates with an asset lock on its profits, ensuring that financial returns are reinvested to benefit its customers. “Some of the things that we’ve been really successful with haven’t earned us any money necessarily but have helped our consumers,” Rooney said. He stressed the importance of helping those who are often overlooked by traditional financial institutions, especially declined customers who make up a significant portion of applicants.

When asked about the company’s guiding principles, Rooney was clear: “Purpose and impact would be the two big things on our list. We are very keen that the technology that we deploy into the marketplace is measured, and we actually produce a social impact report on an annual basis.”

Sponsoring and judging Fintech for Good

Reflecting on Salad Money’s decision to sponsor the Fintech for Good category, Rooney highlighted the benefits the awards bring to participants. “It’s an excellent way of showcasing the business,” he said. “When we applied last year and won, it certainly raised the profile of the business with both funder conversations that we were having and press PR.”

This year, Rooney returned as a judge and found the process both challenging and rewarding. “You’ve got to look at the impact and the purpose of the delivery of whatever the product is,” he said. “We had many diverse entrants, from nurseries to carbon footprints using blockchain. Some really interesting concepts were presented to us.”

Watch to discover more insight as Matt Hyde chats to Tim Rooney at Salad Money