Claro Wellbeing has been awarded runner-up in the 'Best Fintech by an Established For-profit Organisation’ category of the Money Awareness and Inclusion Awards 2023.
The awards, which celebrate the increasingly important work being done to help people understand money better, and benefit more from the financial system, saw 133 finalists – up from 40 last year – across 15 categories.
Some 20 judges, including Adele Atkinson, Professor of Practice in Financial Literacy and Wellbeing at the University of Birmingham and Laura Diaz Zea, from the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), decided on 16 winners and 12 runners-up - including Claro Wellbeing - who came very close to matching the winners’ score.
Only one category failed to produce an entry strong enough to deserve a winner – for crypto or blockchain education. Awks.
We entered our financial coaching call project as an example of how we are trying to improve financial inclusion, raise money awareness and support financially-underserved communities.
Claro’s financial coaching call project
Claro Wellbeing’s project, which was delivered over 11 months, was designed to reach the 39m people that fall into the UK financial advice gap. This group has typically never had access to affordable financial guidance or advice despite its size.
A coaching call may be the first time they’ve discussed their finances with a qualified person to help them understand more about their personal relationship with money and how to make smarter financial decisions, as well as improve their financial literacy.
We offered hundreds of free one-to-one calls, which were accessible to all. The financial coaching and guidance offered by our coaches does not discriminate against lower-income individuals, unlike the financial advice industry.
Each call is completely personalised to the individual - they fill out a pre-call survey outlining their financial situation and their goals - and it’s designed to help people improve their financial understanding, behaviours and skills.
We believe this was the best thing we could do with our time and efforts because it was offering free and tailored financial guidance to an underserved middle, breaking the taboo of talking openly about money as well as helping people understand the relatively new practice of financial coaching.
Judging feedback
Claro Wellbeing was commended by the judges, one of whom said: ‘There is a huge gap in financial skills and coaching. Initiatives like Claro have a huge potential market worldwide, especially in developing economies.'
Another said: ‘Extra points for having a clear vulnerable client policy.’
MAIA founder, Michael Gilmore, thanked Claro Wellbeing for entering the competition and added: ‘Congratulations on your result, but more importantly on the amazing work you're doing!’
Amelia Murray
