Hosted by ClearBank in partnership with Progress Together and Innovate Finance, senior leaders from across the fintech ecosystem came together for a roundtable discussion on a question that is becoming increasingly important for fast-growth businesses:
How can fintech firms build stronger talent pipelines by ensuring opportunity and progression are open to people from all socio-economic backgrounds?
Bringing together CEOs, founders, people leaders, compliance professionals, industry bodies and regional fintech leaders, the discussion was designed to explore socio-economic inclusion as a driver of growth, productivity, innovation and talent resilience.
The roundtable, introduced and chaired by Janine Hirt, CEO and Roberto Napolitano, CMO of Innovate Finance, featured contributions from Sophie Hulm, CEO of Progress Together, Emma Hagan, CEO of ClearBank, and Chris Woolard, fintech expert and social mobility advocate, and Partner at EY.
Five things fintech firms can do now
Throughout the discussion, participants identified practical actions that fintech organisations can take immediately:
- Collect workforce data and use it to understand recruitment, retention and progression.
- Focus on progression, not just hiring.
- Create structured sponsorship opportunities for emerging talent.
- Review how high-profile projects and opportunities are allocated.
- Ensure leaders are accountable for inclusion outcomes.
As fintech continues to mature, participants agreed that the sector has a rare opportunity to avoid recreating barriers seen elsewhere in financial services and instead build organisations where talent and potential, rather than background, determine who progresses into leadership.
The challenge isn't getting people through the door. It's helping them move up
A consistent theme throughout the discussion was that financial services has become increasingly successful at opening doors to talented people from a wide range of backgrounds.
However, participants questioned whether the same progress has been made when it comes to progression.
Many described seeing talented individuals enter organisations, perform strongly, but struggle to gain the visibility, sponsorship and career-defining opportunities that enable progression into senior leadership.
Several attendees noted that the key issue is no longer access alone. The challenge is what happens once people are inside an organisation.
As one participant observed, firms can invest heavily in diverse recruitment, but if leadership pipelines remain unchanged, valuable talent is still being lost.
Sponsorship matters more than organisations often realise
One of the strongest themes to emerge from the room was sponsorship.
Across the discussion, participants repeatedly reflected on the individuals who had accelerated their careers by opening doors, advocating for them behind closed doors and helping them navigate unfamiliar environments.
Many argued that career progression is often determined not simply by performance, but by having someone willing to champion your potential.
Several participants suggested that organisations should move beyond informal sponsorship and create more structured approaches, particularly for employees who may have less access to professional networks through family, education or social circles.
The discussion highlighted sponsorship as one of the most practical interventions available to fintech firms seeking to improve progression outcomes.
Representation alone doesn't tell the full story
Participants also challenged the way organisations often measure inclusion.
Simply reporting workforce diversity figures was seen as insufficient.
The conversation explored where people sit within organisations, asking whether talent from lower socio-economic backgrounds is represented in functions that lead to executive leadership, influence business decisions and shape future strategy.
Attendees highlighted that organisations can appear diverse on paper while still having significant gaps in leadership representation.
The group agreed that fintech firms should look beyond headline metrics and examine progression rates, promotion outcomes and leadership representation if they want a true picture of opportunity within their organisations.
The importance of belonging
The roundtable featured a number of personal reflections from participants about their own career journeys.
Attendees shared experiences of being first-generation university students, growing up in low-income households, immigrating to the UK, attending non-traditional universities and entering industries where they had few existing networks.
Many spoke about the pressure to fit in and the feeling that they needed to change aspects of themselves in order to belong.
Others described questioning whether opportunities were genuinely based on merit or whether they had been selected to meet a particular objective or target.
These experiences prompted a broader discussion around confidence, belonging and self-selection. Participants noted that talented individuals sometimes rule themselves out of opportunities before organisations do, reinforcing the importance of creating cultures where people feel able to contribute and progress authentically.
The role of education, aspiration and visibility
The discussion also looked beyond the workplace.
Participants explored how fintech can engage more actively with schools, colleges and communities to expose young people to careers they may never have previously considered.
Several attendees shared examples of apprenticeship programmes and school outreach initiatives that are helping young people gain access to opportunities, networks and role models.
The power of storytelling emerged as a particularly important theme.
Many participants reflected that seeing people with similar backgrounds succeed in leadership roles can have a profound impact on aspiration and confidence.
There was broad agreement that fintech has an opportunity not only to create inclusive workplaces but also to help inspire future generations of talent.
Accountability starts at the top
While much of the discussion focused on data, sponsorship and progression, several participants argued that lasting change only happens when senior leaders are personally accountable for outcomes.
Attendees reflected that most organisations already understand what good practice looks like. The challenge is less about identifying solutions and more about ensuring they remain a strategic priority.
Examples were shared of organisations where responsibility for social mobility and inclusion sits explicitly with a Board member or senior executive, creating clear ownership and ensuring progress remains on leadership agendas.
Some participants suggested that organisations should go further by linking leadership incentives and long-term reward structures to inclusion outcomes. In the same way that executives are measured against financial, operational and strategic goals, several attendees argued that talent and progression metrics should also form part of leadership performance assessments.
There was broad agreement that when accountability sits at the top of an organisation, progress is faster, decisions are more consistent, and inclusion moves from being a people initiative to a business priority.