Fairer Finance

Summary

Fairer Finance is on a mission to become the UK's most trusted provider of consumer financial services ratings. After their best ever year in 2020, they're poised to expand into more sectors, accelerate growth and help even more consumers get a better deal.

• £170k revenue in our latest quarter, 70%+ growth y-o-y
• Data and insight used by a blue-chip client list including Lloyds Bank
• Ratings already published on thetimes.co.uk, which gets 35m views/week
• Experienced consumer advisory board led by former FTSE 250 CEO

Idea

Financial services ratings you can trust

Everyone seems to have a 5* rating in financial services these days, making it hard to work out which companies truly offer good product quality and excellent customer service. We are a consumer group, research agency and consultancy launched in 2014, on a mission to be the most respected independent ratings source.

We publish reviews backed by intensive research and built around customer needs. We make it hard to reach the top of our tables and raise our bar as standards improve, which we believe makes our ratings a true mark of quality.

Diverse revenue model

We make money through 4 key channels:

• Licensing access to our data and insights
• Selling endorsements to those who do well in our ratings
• Sponsored research that helps improve the financial services market
• Helping firms do better for their customers

Our revenues for 2020/21 have already passed £550k, taking us into profit (2019/20 revenues £404k, Loss: £24k).

Blue-chip client list

We have a growing client list of the largest financial services firms, from Axa to HSBC.

How we'll spend the money

Our aim is to expand into more banking and insurance sectors and grow our consumer presence, helping us to strike deals with comparison sites and sign up more companies to our Insight services. We'll also expand our campaigning work, doubling our efforts to create a fairer market for consumers.

Team

James Daley, Founder and Managing Director

James has been a consumer campaigner and financial journalist for over 20 years. Before launching Fairer Finance in 2014, he worked for the consumer group, Which?, campaigning for a better deal for consumers in the wake of the financial crisis. From 2004-09, James worked on the business desk of the Independent newspaper, latterly as the paper's Personal Finance Editor. James is frequently interviewed on national television and radio, and has regularly appeared on shows such as Watchdog, Rip-off Britain, Dispatches and Moneybox. He is also a member of the Chartered Insurance Institute's professional standards committee, and is a local authority councillor.

Paul Pester, Chair of Consumer Advisory Board

Paul Pester oversees our independent consumer advisory board, which ensures the company never puts its short-term commercial interests ahead of its independence and integrity. Paul was previously CEO of TSB having led the company's separation from Lloyds. Previously he was CEO of Virgin Money.

Dr Kate Doran, Head of Research

Kate is responsible for overseeing the quality of our data and analysis. She joined the firm in 2019 after working with Barclays in its IT transformation division. She has a PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience.