Nick Allen, CTO of Aro: “Gen AI will impact all businesses, just like the internet did initially”
Financial companies need to embrace technology – it’s a sector where competitive edge is everything – so it should be no surprise that fintech is where some of the most exciting developments happen. Nick Allen, CTO at Aro, sits at the cutting edge of that cutting edge, and has overseen the transformation of Aro (formerly Freedom Finance) from a loan broker into what he describes as a “fintech powerhouse”.
In this interview, we get some excellent insights into how he has helped achieve this – and it wasn’t always easy.
“It can be hard to experiment in traditional companies, and the pace of change and the learning that comes from this is not fast or frequent enough to trigger genuinely innovative ideas,” he told us. “My early days in Aro were very much like this… It can take time to yield successful results, but the investment in building the right teams and culture is worth it.”
As our headline indicates, the next stage will very much involve AI, which Nick sees driving change within fintech and beyond. “At the forefront of this transformation is AI’s ability to harness vast amounts of data to tailor services to individual customer needs – and we’re already beginning to see this start to happen.”
Our thanks to Nick for taking the time to share his experience. Anyone who is in charge of digital transformation at their company should definitely take the time to read his words of wisdom!
Could you please introduce yourself to our audience and share how you ended up working in fintech?
I’m Nick Allen, CTO at Aro. My experience began as a software engineer in the early days of the internet. Over the last 25 years, I’ve been driving digital innovation and transformation within businesses of all types and sizes.
As CTO at Aro, I have been pivotal in shaping the business’s digital platform. Through the right architecture and the specialised engineering of our software and data platforms, we’ve boosted productivity and quality and delivered a tenfold increase in the speed of change. All of this has enabled our innovation engine, where we now weave data intelligence capabilities into the platform, establishing our platform as the leading AI-enabled marketplace that powers 24/7 personal credit solutions for multiple brands.
My passion isn’t just about technology; cultivating environments where creativity and collaboration thrive, and people come to work to be their best, is deeply important to me. The culture at Aro reflects this ethos, allowing team members to excel and innovate under a banner of shared goals and mutual respect.
My entry into fintech came about purely by chance as I searched for the most challenging role I could imagine. After spending 20+ years building greenfield digital platforms and teams, the idea of taking a traditional finance business and transforming it into a digital fintech felt like something that would push me to my limits.
What do you think traditional finance and banking companies can learn from disruptors in the fintech space?
Traditional finance and banking institutions may significantly benefit from observing and adopting the agility and innovation demonstrated by fintech disruptors. It can be hard to experiment in traditional companies, and the pace of change and the learning that comes from this is not fast or frequent enough to trigger genuinely innovative ideas. This is where they can be at a disadvantage.
My early days in Aro were very much like this. Building the capability with the right people, processes and technology is vital to establishing an agile culture of innovation within an organisation. It can take time to yield successful results, but the investment in building the right teams and culture is worth it.
Fintechs also have an advantage because they often don’t have many legacy systems. Legacy systems and technical debt can hold a business back, making it hard to change things. Aro had these problems too, so we decided to build a new platform, adopting modern practices and technology. This certainly isn’t easy, and we found ways to transition over time so we could benefit from specific capabilities early.
Culture also plays a big part in this. The disruptors will create a culture of agility, experimentation and urgency, allowing them to move faster, try new things and find what works.
Recommended reading: Top ten breakthrough fintech companies
In what ways is artificial intelligence impacting the fintech sector?
Profoundly. And the next generation of it, Gen AI, will impact all businesses, just like the internet did initially.
At the forefront of this transformation is AI’s ability to harness vast amounts of data to tailor services to individual customer needs – and we’re already beginning to see this start to happen. By analysing customer behaviour, spending patterns and financial goals, AI-powered systems could offer even more personalised recommendations, products and services. And when combined with real-time insights into market trends and risk factors, customer loan offers will become even more aligned with their wants and needs.
Of course, this kind of automation-led personalisation requires a level of human oversight to ensure recommendations are truly in the customer’s best interest. But, by automating routine tasks to drive operational efficiencies, advisors can spend more time supporting their customers and less time on administrative tasks.
Recommended reading: Sasidhar Thumuluri, MD & CEO Sub-K IMPACT Solutions: “AI can be a huge game-changer for financial inclusion particularly”
How does your company differ from its direct competitors in the fintech space?
This is always a tricky question to answer, as without deep-diving into how a competitor operates, any comparison is based on perception. But obviously, our people and our technology are head and shoulders above anyone else! For the last four years, we’ve operated in the elite category defined by Google’s State of DevOps report. This requires discipline from a great technology team and a lot of hard work.
Unlike many fintechs that focus solely on their technology, there are times when speaking directly to someone can help customers make better informed financial decisions. Because of this, we can provide access to a highly skilled team of advisors where appropriate.
Additionally, it is worth considering that Aro has undergone a considerable transformation in the last 12 months, marked by the rebrand from Freedom Finance in September 2023 and a strategic repositioning to enhance our B2B market presence as the leading go-to digital lending marketplace in the UK market.
Our mission, ‘delivering personal credit solutions 24‐7,’ encapsulates our commitment to innovation and providing better customer outcomes.
What are your top three fintech predictions for the upcoming years?
The top three will all come through the adoption of Gen AI personalisation and automation.
Gen AI will enable us to offer highly personalised products and services based on detailed analysis of individual customer data. For example, at Aro, this could include tailored assistance with managing your finances, helping predict future expenditures, or developing plans to save or use credit in the best way possible.
We’re already seeing customer service automation via AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants. I expect these will become mainstream as their capabilities mature and the guardrails in which they operate can be established and monitored. These virtual assistants will handle increasingly complex queries and provide cost savings, operational efficiency and scale while improving customer satisfaction.
Voice-based chatbots will eliminate the need for customers to complete lengthy application forms. Because of this, we will see a shift in the user interface and how the digital customer experience evolves.
Finally, the disruptors will learn how to leverage this technology to replace tasks and workflows in their business. Removing or displacing the need for specific groups/teams as these processes become entirely automated. This will include decision-making, as Gen AI can interact with other sources of information, people, or other systems, and it can decide what action to take next.
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