Ben Helps

CEO, Factern

 

Factern

Ben has been working for Factern on a full time basis since November 2015, first on secondment from Oliver Wyman and subsequently – since April 2017 – as part of the Factern leadership team. Oliver Wyman is a founding shareholder of Factern.

During this period, Ben has operated as CEO, responsible for overseeing platform development, business development, funding and financial management. He is also tasked with building the team to take the business forward.

Over the past 18 months, Ben has been an active participant of the Payment Strategy Forum, as part of the working group for the trusted KYC data sharing solution for SMEs; of the Whitechapel Think Tank, with a focus on identity solutions that leverage distributed ledger technologies; and of the Open Banking Fintech working group.

 

 

Oliver Wyman

Ben joined Oliver Wyman’s London office in 1996, and was made a Partner in 2004. From 2008 to 2015, Ben led Oliver Wyman’s Business Banking practice in Europe, working for many of the leading banks across the continent.

After the financial crisis of 2008/9, Ben used his private sector experience to help policy makers understand and address barriers to an effective SME financing market. This included a focus on the high frictional costs imposed by traditional KYC, AML and risk underwriting processes.

A public example of Ben’s work can be found in the RBS Independent Lending Review, which he co-authored in 2013, together with Sir Andrew Large.

Education

Ben holds a BA in Classics from the University of Oxford.