Oakam Brings Gamification and Rewards to Consumer Finance with New Mobile App Feature, Oakam Grow

• New in-app rewards feature, Oakam Grow, nudges consumers towards
  positive credit habits
• Launch supports Oakam’s mission to bring digital transformation to the
  analogue micro-credit industry

LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Oakam
has enhanced its mobile app with the launch of Oakam Grow, a new feature
that uses gamification to make consumer finance more engaging, rewarding
and inclusive. Oakam Grow builds on the UK-based consumer lender’s
application of behavioural science to encourage the development of
positive credit habits, and supports its strategy to bring digital
disruption to the largely analogue micro-credit industry.

“The UK alone is home to 12 million consumers who are underserved by
traditional lenders, and digital transformation is sorely needed to
expand access to fair credit and bring more people into the financial
system,” said Frederic Nze, Oakam’s CEO and founder. “Oakam’s
digitally-led strategy, and the recent addition of Oakam Grow, helps
meet this need while providing us with data-driven insights that empower
better underwriting decisions that look beyond the traditional credit
score.”

Oakam Grow gamifies the experience for Oakam’s mobile app users through
the application of social currency theory, which enables customers to
share in the financial upside of their responsible credit behaviour.
Customers earn points when making repayments via the app or referring
friends, redeemable for loan repayments, cash-back, store vouchers,
lower rates on future loans, or to socially vouch for friends in the
loan application process. Oakam’s award-winning
mobile app first launched in 2015, and today more than 55 per cent of
its customers are regular users. The addition of Oakam Grow will further
drive app downloads and engagement.

Oakam has seized on the opportunity to disrupt the £1.8 tn global
micro-lending industry through the use of AI, machine learning and
cognitive science. The century-old industry has seen little innovation
since its founding and today relies on the same analogue processes that
keep cost-to-income ratios above 50 per cent, and prices high for
consumers. The industry’s network of around 200,000 doorstep loan agents
globally also leaves consumers with poor or no credit history,
vulnerable to misleading offers and predatory practices.

Oakam’s omni-channel model, comprising its digital properties and UK
retail network, confronts both the issues of inefficiency and consumer
protection. The addition of Oakam Grow is expected to deliver
significant benefits through increased customer engagement and lower
cost-to-income ratios by positively aligning good borrower behaviour
with financial incentives. The UK based fintech lender is backed by
Cabot Square Capital LLP, a leading financial services private equity
firm.

Oakam is committed to safe innovation and is participating in the Financial
Conduct Authority’s 2016 regulatory sandbox, an initiative to
promote competition in the interest of consumers.

Hi-res images of Oakam Grow are available on request.

ABOUT OAKAM

Everyone needs a hand. Whether to jumpstart a new business idea or cover
an unexpected expense, Oakam is making a new future possible for every
hard-working individual. Providing access to straightforward credit and
digital budgeting tools, Oakam empowers those overlooked by traditional
lenders to build their financial futures. We make accessing and managing
credit more convenient and rewarding than ever through our mobile app.
All the while, we keep finances personal through our UK retail network
where you’ll have someone to talk to in your native language. Since
2006, Oakam has provided over 425,000 loans to nearly 200,000 customers.
For more information, visit www.oakam.com,
or download the free mobile app from the App Store or Google Play.

ABOUT CABOT SQUARE CAPITAL LLP

Cabot Square Capital is a leading provider of growth capital to UK
financial services and operating property businesses. The firm is
entering its 20th year of operations and has helped build over 25
companies during this time. Cabot Square Capital is currently investing
its fifth institutional fund.

Contacts

Vested
Courtney Chennells, +1-917-765-8720
oakam@fullyvested.com