ClearBank

Interesting.

So I guess my journey in all of this probably started six years ago, maybe, when I went to ClearBank.

And I was looking at cross-border payments for them.

and they were looking at certain crypto-type businesses like Ripple, and they were using that as basically the settlement mechanism and the movement of funds, and it was the speed of the transaction, right? Because you can do it so quickly.

Right.

So to bridge that gap and achieve that negative cycle, Shopify and partners like Clearbank step in with merchant cash advances or MCAs.

Yes, the MCA.

Okay, let's unpack this.

My guest today spent her earlier career as the person who said, not yet.

Emma Hagen was chief risk and compliance officer at ClearBank, the UK clearing bank that launched in 2017.

Now she is its UK chief executive and she has to make it go fast.

Emma, welcome.

What do you see differently about growth perhaps from when you were in the risk seat?

I think a lot of it is just different angles on the same issue.

And I think part of this, certainly for me, in looking at joining ClearBank in the first place, as you say, originally as the chief risk and compliance officer, was I think if you join that kind of environment, I think you are the kind of risk professional that enjoys growth because that's the environment you're walking into.

So I look at it as kind of two sides of the same coin, which is, A lot of people focus very heavily on the risk role being about controls and the not yets and how can we minimize or mitigate risk.

I have received interest from this account.

It's powered by ClearBank, which means that if you have any other ClearBank backed products, then you'll all be sharing the 120,000 FSCS protection limit.

There's a new account called First Active, this instant access account, which is backed by NatWest.

It's 4.55% with a bonus across 12 months of 1.5%.

That has a maximum balance of $1 million.

Just something to note, though, because this is part of the NatWest group.

Similar to ClearBank, you'll be sharing the FSCS deposit protection with any other NatWest or Ulster

accounts.