Steven Smith, CEO - Finicity
Although the mundane code-mosphere inside IT companies has long transformed into a fun-filled atmosphere, FinTech companies are still forced to manifest a fundamental divergence due to their core business affair – finance. They often become the boringly studious child in the family. But going past the glass doors of Finicity – one of the globally leading FinTech solution providers & influencers based out of the US – escorts us to a whole new world of work culture, which echoes the fact that FinTech is not that boringly studious child anymore. An ideal example being the musically indulged evenings in Finicity’s Mumbai office, thanks to Paresh Wagh, an IT developer and a Finitizen, who finds time to render guitar lessons to his 25+ aspirant colleagues, adjacent to his coding hours.
A true people-centric organization that boasts of its strong cultural DNA built on transparency & accountability, Finicity (established in 1999) over the past two decades has tangibly transformed its work culture, starting right from the smallest details like discarding the concept of employees & managers to perceive its people as team members and leads. “Our hard work over the past several years has paid off, and today, we have completely eliminated the management hierarchy. It’s not only that even the senior-leads don’t operate by virtue of their designation, but they are also a part of our embedded system, which finds solutions to our client’s problems,” asserts Amar M. Karvir, General Manager – India, Finicity India Private Limited.
The Allure-Factor
As a leading provider of real-time financial data access and insights, Finicity has built a culture that centers on enabling and celebrating the financial success of its customers. Through its core internal asset, cutting-edge financial data aggregation platform that bestows lending companies with an informed confidence to offer loans to customers based on their credit history, the company provides a core solution that is an integral part of the credit decisioning process for millions of consumers in the US. As Finicity looks to grow to other geographies around the world, it’s platform has the potential of providing billions of people (especially from the lower and lower-middle income range) around the world with access to credit. This in truth engenders a butterfly effect – talents find an alluring towards the influence that Finicity creates in the society, which traces back to its remarkable insightful solutions, and work culture. Above all, Finicity is well known for being at the
cutting-edge of technology, which in fact is an undeniable proposition for any tech-talent. By effectuating this allure, it’s also exemplary the way it handpicks candidates.
"With glass doors and being highly receptive to ideas, Finicity offers a matchless platform to flex innovative muscles"
It’s no secret that companies always tend to deploy a company-centric interview process, where the candidates are often left with vagueness about the process and their application status, not to mention the never-ending wait. Finicity plays in a different league with its people (candidate)- centric recruitment process. “We are extremely vigilant in providing candidates with an amazing experience regardless of them being selected or not,” adds Amar. He continues, “There have been many overwhelming moments, wherein even the deselected candidates expressed how happy they were with the whole interview experience. The positive thoughts spread by our candidates have helped us create an intact reputation in the local talent market”. The referral bonus program and internalhiring approach further compliment the recruitment process.
Finicity is home to an excellent retention strategy, which, besides an extremely people-centric work culture, involves a number of compositions, ranging from travelling abreast of the cutting-edge technologies to ensuring equal opportunities to learn & grow within the company, providing the industry’s best compensation & benefits, and aptly recognizing & rewarding their achievements. With glass doors and being highly receptive to ideas, Finicity offers a matchless platform to flex innovative muscles. In fact, the company has monthly, quarterly and yearly recognition programs in place, which also includes a special award for innovations called ‘Finovator of the Quarter’ award and the Most Valued Finitizen (MVF) annual award. The MVF recipients in fact get a special recognition in the form of an all-expenses-paidvacation trip with family and accompanied by senior executive leaders to an exotic destination in India.
“Another facet that helps retention is ample forums that bestow our team members an opportunity to voice their suggestions, feedback, and criticism. It has two broad channels – direct conversations with their leaders, and an anonymous forum, if they don’t want to reveal their identity,” adjoins Amar. The platforms include Skip Level (one-on-one discussions with the Head of India operations and the HR Lead), Fireside Chat - (a discussion between 10 team members from different groups, head of the India operations, and HR), a third-party channel called Finitizen Voice, and an online third-party survey portal called Officevibe. Not only are individual inputs andfeedback sought through these anonymous platforms, but the message also goes out to the entire team that the organization is listening and responding.
"With glass doors and being highly receptive to ideas, Finicity offers a matchless platform to flex innovative muscles"
It’s no secret that companies always tend to deploy a company-centric interview process, where the candidates are often left with vagueness about the process and their application status, not to mention the never-ending wait. Finicity plays in a different league with its people (candidate)- centric recruitment process. “We are extremely vigilant in providing candidates with an amazing experience regardless of them being selected or not,” adds Amar. He continues, “There have been many overwhelming moments, wherein even the deselected candidates expressed how happy they were with the whole interview experience. The positive thoughts spread by our candidates have helped us create an intact reputation in the local talent market”. The referral bonus program and internalhiring approach further compliment the recruitment process.
Finicity is home to an excellent retention strategy, which, besides an extremely people-centric work culture, involves a number of compositions, ranging from travelling abreast of the cutting-edge technologies to ensuring equal opportunities to learn & grow within the company, providing the industry’s best compensation & benefits, and aptly recognizing & rewarding their achievements. With glass doors and being highly receptive to ideas, Finicity offers a matchless platform to flex innovative muscles. In fact, the company has monthly, quarterly and yearly recognition programs in place, which also includes a special award for innovations called ‘Finovator of the Quarter’ award and the Most Valued Finitizen (MVF) annual award. The MVF recipients in fact get a special recognition in the form of an all-expenses-paidvacation trip with family and accompanied by senior executive leaders to an exotic destination in India.
“Another facet that helps retention is ample forums that bestow our team members an opportunity to voice their suggestions, feedback, and criticism. It has two broad channels – direct conversations with their leaders, and an anonymous forum, if they don’t want to reveal their identity,” adjoins Amar. The platforms include Skip Level (one-on-one discussions with the Head of India operations and the HR Lead), Fireside Chat - (a discussion between 10 team members from different groups, head of the India operations, and HR), a third-party channel called Finitizen Voice, and an online third-party survey portal called Officevibe. Not only are individual inputs andfeedback sought through these anonymous platforms, but the message also goes out to the entire team that the organization is listening and responding.
The Balance of Life
Over the past several decades, the concept of work life balance has undergone sea changes. Finicity encourages its team to find balance through an ideal confluence of work and personal life. The company indeed encourages Finitizens to bring their hobbies & tastes to office; no wonder Paresh gets to conduct music classes at the workplace. The company also conducts several healthcare initiatives and fitness sessions, including special nutrition-based sessions for women. It has also tied up with a professional gymnasium in the same building which offers significantly-discounted memberships to Finicity team members. To further boost the workplace milieu, Finicity has divided its 250+ employees into different houses named Himalayas, Atlas, Rocky, and the Alps. While triggering a healthy competition and promoting cultural exchange, this also helps the company to bring together members from different teams.
Amar M. Karvir, General Manager – India Operations
“Anyone can define the company culture on a piece of paper or a PowerPoint presentation. But pragmatically, it boils down to the leaders in the organization and what’s in their DNA. The DNA of our company and leaders is identical. Our leaders truly walk the talk and are always available to the team,” concludes Amar. En route to the future, Finicity plans to hike its team strength to 300 within the next two quarters.
Key Management:
Steven Smith, CEO - Finicity
Steven Smith is the chairman, CEO and co-founder of Finicity. With over 30 years of experience, Steven’s passion and experience is in developing innovative and disruptive technologies, products and services that lead to market efficiency and, ultimately improve consumers’ lives.
Amar M. Karvir, General Manager – India Operations
Amar is a seasoned technology leader with 22+ years of experience both in the US and India in software/product development, technology operations management, and working in an offshore /distributed software delivery model.
Offices:
Salt Lake City, Utah, US (headquarters) & Mumbai, India
Offerings:
Providing real-time financial data access and insights for use in -
•Financial Management
•Credit Decisioning
•Payment Initiation
•Banking
Over the past several decades, the concept of work life balance has undergone sea changes. Finicity encourages its team to find balance through an ideal confluence of work and personal life. The company indeed encourages Finitizens to bring their hobbies & tastes to office; no wonder Paresh gets to conduct music classes at the workplace. The company also conducts several healthcare initiatives and fitness sessions, including special nutrition-based sessions for women. It has also tied up with a professional gymnasium in the same building which offers significantly-discounted memberships to Finicity team members. To further boost the workplace milieu, Finicity has divided its 250+ employees into different houses named Himalayas, Atlas, Rocky, and the Alps. While triggering a healthy competition and promoting cultural exchange, this also helps the company to bring together members from different teams.
Amar M. Karvir, General Manager – India Operations
“Anyone can define the company culture on a piece of paper or a PowerPoint presentation. But pragmatically, it boils down to the leaders in the organization and what’s in their DNA. The DNA of our company and leaders is identical. Our leaders truly walk the talk and are always available to the team,” concludes Amar. En route to the future, Finicity plans to hike its team strength to 300 within the next two quarters.
Key Management:
Steven Smith, CEO - Finicity
Steven Smith is the chairman, CEO and co-founder of Finicity. With over 30 years of experience, Steven’s passion and experience is in developing innovative and disruptive technologies, products and services that lead to market efficiency and, ultimately improve consumers’ lives.
Amar M. Karvir, General Manager – India Operations
Amar is a seasoned technology leader with 22+ years of experience both in the US and India in software/product development, technology operations management, and working in an offshore /distributed software delivery model.
Offices:
Salt Lake City, Utah, US (headquarters) & Mumbai, India
Offerings:
Providing real-time financial data access and insights for use in -
•Financial Management
•Credit Decisioning
•Payment Initiation
•Banking
