The Leasing Foundation today announced that it has officially launched its Industry Insights programme, a cross-industry initiative focussed on retaining and developing young talent in the business finance sector.
The 18-month initiative will enable participants – ‘high-potential’ professionals in the asset finance sector – to gain exposure to businesses outside of their own organisations as part of their professional development and give them the tools to further their careers and learn more than they would be able to from one employer alone.
The first three-hour workshop was hosted by the Finance & Leasing Association and provided the 24 individuals taking part with an in-depth look at the business and also allowed them to meet senior members of the FLA team to find out what their career journeys have been like. The session then closed with an open Q&A.
Nathan Mollett, director of the Leasing Foundation and head of asset finance at United Trust Bank, commented: “The thing that makes this special is that it’s a cross industry initiative – it feels like the whole industry has come together to make this work. It carries the endorsement of the Finance & Leasing Association and it’s the first time that the Leasing Foundation has formally partnered with the FLA on talent development. The support we’ve had from the lending community has also been incredible which means that the participants get to spend time with a really diverse range of businesses, including large banks, challenger and niche banks, advisors, legal firms, fintechs, and brokers. Our participants also have different backgrounds, different employer types, different and levels of experience. We have brokers, experienced bank salespeople, finance managers, accountants, credit people – it’s a great mix.”
In addition to the workshop sessions, the Industry Insights initiative provides attendees with a quarterly 90 minute ‘reflection’ session with Lisa MacIver, Alfa’s learning and development manager, to help digest what they have learnt and put it all into practice. There is also a private Slack community enabling individuals to form strong professional connections with their peers and get access to more senior executives within the industry who can provide guidance when needed.
Nathan continued: “I think one of the key benefits for the participants is the opportunity to build relationships with other people in the cohort. The group of 24 high-potential, talented, finance professionals, have been handpicked by their employer as being worth of investment. Just think where this group will be in ten years’ time and how their career will have progressed. At least half of them will probably be in senior leadership roles. That’s why we’ve created an online community on Slack specifically for this group, and previous cohorts to communicate, support and seek advice from each other. We believe this is an industry first.”
Mike Randall, chair of the Leasing Foundation and CEO of Simply said: “We’d like to thank everyone who has agreed to host the sessions and also those that have nominated individuals to attend. It’s important that we provide high-calibre and relevant training to the next generation of leaders and the best way of doing this is to pull together as an industry and do it collaboratively. I look forward to seeing what comes out of the sessions over the next 18 months!”
Hosting the sessions over the next 18 months are:
- FLA
- Shawbrook
- Haydock
- Funding Circle
- Wesleyan
- Aldermore
- Grant Thornton
- Allica Bank
- Simply
- Auxillias
- Lombard
- Metro Bank
- Alfa
- MAF
- WhiteOak