Fintech Power50 Coronavirus Survey: Contis

The Covid-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented time for many. Despite this, and that many businesses are struggling to get by, the fintech industry has proved itself to be particularly resilient this year, taking advantage of the opportunity to grow and prove itself as a vital sector. In light of this, The Fintech Power50 has conducted a survey of its members earlier in the year asking how their business was fairing during the pandemic to help support a community sentiment.

Founded in 2008, Contis provides end-to-end banking and payments solutions. Their mission is simple: to empower companies and people to realise their vision – in business and in life whether you are an agile start-up or large financial institution. Here Peter Cox, Executive Chairman and Founder, and Kate Laidlow – Head of People & Culture tell the Power50 about their 2020 experience. 

What was the main challenge as a result of the pandemic for your company, and how did you work to overcome this? 

 Peter Cox: As a totally cloud-based company, we thankfully faced few operational risks in the transition to working from home. With over 800,000 end customers, the biggest challenge was maintaining seamless customer support – particularly for our large number of vulnerable customers. We successfully moved our entire customer services operation to our team member’s living rooms and bedrooms in four hours with zero impact to response times or quality – something we are immensely proud of.

What measures have you put in place to ensure the safety of your staff? 

Kate Laidlow: After ensuring all Contis employees had the tools to work from home, we ramped up our internal comms, particularly sharing business progress to reassure our people that their employment was not at risk, nor was Contis relying on any furlough schemes. 

Our CEO started weekly email updates, and then we began a programme focussing on mental health and wellbeing, introducing virtual ‘Time for Tea’ afternoons, fun Bingo sessions and running a campaign to recognise Mental Health Awareness.   

In readiness for our offices reopening, we then risk assessed all locations, retrained line managers on their health & safety obligations and put Covid-Secure Working Practices in place.  

What was your main focus when navigating through these uncertain times?  

PC: The welfare of our clients, staff and community was our highest priority – as this is our pre-requisite for optimal service to the customers. We also used this time to reflect and think about what we could do better, which resulted in various exciting new projects including the launch of our CSR mission: Contis Cares.” 

What are your plans moving forward to ensure a successful operation as the pandemic continues? 

 PC: Our main goal is maintaining growth! We have seen an increase in inbound leads, so will be managing the increased demand, starting new programmes, and continue to bring next-generation accounts and payments services to the market.” 

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