Adapting our priorities in response to COVID-19
As we are all aware the COVID-19 crisis is putting many more people into vulnerable circumstances and creating even more pressure on those already in that grouping. It presents immediate challenges to – and also longer-term opportunities for – increasing the financial resilience of people in vulnerable circumstances.
Overall outcomes
We’ve set three broad outcomes as to how we want to emerge from the crisis:
- Affordable credit sector intact and potentially stronger through acceleration of changes
- Individuals emerge without a debt mountain or harm to their longer-term financial wellbeing
- Accelerated change in the wider financial services system so that people in vulnerable circumstances are better served by the system overall
How we’re approaching delivery
We’re working collaboratively in these aspects to allow us to focus our work to make the most immediate and sustained impact:
- Establish customer and business priority needs in collaboration with other social investors and financial service providers
- Accelerate our planned deployment of funds to create most impact including further supporting existing investee companies on our Affordable Credit Scale Up pilot programme and the launch of the second phase of the programme – more details will be announced in April
- Identify game-changing opportunities to rapidly accelerate innovation in the financial system to meet the needs of people in vulnerable circumstances and the organisations who serve them. In these unprecedented circumstances, there is both an opportunity and a requirement to be bold and reimagine what is possible. If you’ve got a bold idea or have useful insight to add then please do connect with us
We have also signed up to a commitment coordinated by Good Finance to show as much support and flexibility as possible to the organisations we are already committed to invest in. The statement titled ‘Social Investors Respond to COVID-19 can be viewed on Good Finance’s website.
We will continue to share information and progress on our plans as they develop.