Payment Expert’s ID Check: Payments Professionals offers insight from industry leaders and experts on how they got their start in the financial industry, from their early years in education, to how they have been able to climb the corporate ladder.
This week, Anna Moore, Chief HR Officer at Form3, details her journey as a HR professional who, by her commitment to putting people first, has helped foster industry collaborations and a great working culture.
Where did you go to university and what did you study? What impact did this have on your current journey?
I went to Bristol University and studied a BA (Hons) Degree in Hispanic Studies (Spanish and Portugese), as I had and still have a passion for Hispanic culture. Then, I joined Mark & Spencer’s Graduate Scheme, where my first role was working at its Seville store in Spain.
In terms of the impact going to university had on my career journey, it gave me a broader outlook, as I’m particularly interested in the cultural nuances between different countries. I think when you visit other places, how you use words and language is really important in life and in business.
Did you have any jobs outside of the industry before making your start in it and was this experience a motivation to get into the industry you aspired to be in?
I worked in a local pub in Henley-on-Thames, which is famous for the Henley Regatta, where I also did a lot of work in hospitality at the event. In addition, I taught English as a foreign language teacher in a summer school in Reading when I was a student.
These jobs helped me to realise my strengths, which are to build relationships with people, and also to understand the absolute importance of the customer, whether they are internally or externally facing.
What’s interesting is that the two professional industries I’ve chosen to work in, retail and financial services, both put the customer absolutely at the heart of what these industries focus on.
What was the first job you had in the industry and are there any lessons from this you still draw on?
I had been working in retail for 20 years’ when a person in my network, who worked at Pollinate International Limited, which was at the time a payments startup, got in touch to offer me the position of Director of People and Performance.
I must admit at the time that I didn’t know a lot about this world. However, I had been fortunate at Marks & Spencer to partner with the IT director to look after our technology function, so I felt I had some resonance with the product technology world.
So I took a leap of faith. I went from working at a huge corporate blue chip organisation, where I knew everyone, to going to a startup with a founder to build a people agenda from scratch. The key lesson that I learnt was just go for it. What have you really got to lose unless you try something new and challenging?
Who was your biggest role model outside of the payments industry who continues to inspire you in your current career?
My biggest role model, in the HR field, is Audrey Lund, the then Head of People at the London Oxford Street flagship Marks & Spencer store. She still drives my decisions today, as no matter how tricky or difficult things were, she would always fight for people, but in a commercial way.
She stood up to some very big characters, because she believed the people function was the most important element in running a successful business.
When was your first big break in the payments industry? Why was this such a significant moment for you?
My first big break in payments was the role I had at Pollinate International Limited. This was significant for me, as the founder, Al Lukies, passionately believed that he wanted people at the heart of the company, right from the beginning. Whilst a lot of founders make this claim as a trite statement, he put his money where his mouth was.
Al brought me in as a seasoned HR professional at that absolute beginning stage of the company. I was fundamentally involved with the business right from the very beginning, and over six years helped build it up to over 300 people.
Working for him, we never had any major grievances or legal issues, because I think people were at the heart of his thinking right from the beginning.
Was there a moment you faced in the industry that really challenged you? How did you overcome this?
In my current role at Form3, and whilst at Pollinate International Limited, I’ve seen the traditional financial services industry and banks get very excited about working with fintechs. This is because they see working with new players as having a more modern edge – something that tier one banks didn’t have before.
What I think we often forget in this working process is that a lot of tier one banks have to be quite rigid, regulatory working practices – whereas fintechs necessarily do not. What was therefore challenging was putting together two incredibly different working cultures – and avoiding culture clash.
How I overcame this challenge being at a fintech was to really take time to invest in the relationships you have with traditional banks. I still work with NatWest, where I have built very close relationships with the teams on the ground there, to make the best use of agility and governance, facets that benefit both parties.
Ultimately, you have to have more of a partnership than a client relationship, and that depends on whether the bank is prepared to do that of course.
Lastly, what is some advice you would give to an aspiring person looking to get a start in your respective industry?
The first piece of advice I can offer is be curious and don’t be afraid to ask questions in order to learn. For example, in payments we use so many acronyms which new joiners will naturally struggle with initially.
My second piece of advice is take time to understand a company’s product and what makes people within an organisation tick – what are their priorities and how can you help them to achieve these.
My final piece of good advice would be to surround yourself with great people who bring different strengths to yourself – this can sometimes seem like hard work, as different opinions can collide, but ultimately, you will build a winning team!
