Third Party Risk Lead

At the start of each year, we have a company-wide strategy meeting to share the business objectives and goals. Team leads across all areas of the bank keep their teams updated and supported to reach the specific department targets throughout the quarters. Zopa Bank meeting, every Thursday, features different speakers who provide an update on their area of the business keeping the rest of Zopa informed. There is always an anonymous Q&A at the end of every meeting. Our employee surveys consistently show high scores for the question ‘Zopa is in a position to really succeed over the next three years’ [79% in June 2025] “I think the focus on learning, inclusion, and transparency around company goals all contribute to a supportive and motivating workplace” [Quote from June 2025 employee engagement survey] We take time to celebrate the small and big wins. We have our Home-Grown Heroes awards each month for individuals and teams who’ve shone bright and demonstrated the different pillars of our purpose in their projects. We also have companywide celebrations for big ticket items such as our current account launch.

Zopa Bank values are 'In it together', 'Customer Champions', 'Fearless choices', 'Walk the talk' and 'Win smarter'. We bake them into everything we do at Zopa. Our monthly Homegrown Heroes nominations need to include how the nominees have embodied one or more of our values in their work, and our bi-annual performance review process assesses how an individual has demonstrated our values in their conduct & projects.

On a macro level, Jaidev's upbringing has shaped Zopa as it is today. Coming face to face with the darker side of lending in India, Jaidev wanted to build a bank that does the right thing. This led us nicely to our home of money ambition, creating that warm feeling and win-win moments for us and our customers, backed by countless award wins for our products and a 4.6 out of 5 on Trustpilot. On a day-to-day level, Jaidev consistently brings an openness and respect which can be felt across the organisation. Jaidev trusts that Zopians are experts in their fields and listens to their guidance be it related to the People team, software development, marketing or IT. This empowers staff to do their best work and allows Zopa always to bolster a flat hierarchy where all viewpoints are important and listened to. Jaidev sits at a different desk each time he visits the office, allowing him to check in and help with different teams and make himself easily available to any who need it.

'When I share my opinion, it is valued' is one of the questions we ask in our biannual employee engagement survey. In June 2025, 75% of Zopians gave a positive score. We’ve worked hard to assess the areas where we needed to make improvements and as a result, we rolled out specific manager training and companywide training on neurodiversity in the workplace and how to ensure Zopa is a company where everyone feels comfortable to share their ideas in their preferred manner of communication. We’re continuing to improve our DE&I by collaborating with specialist diversity training providers and experts at T-Minus to deep dive into how we can continue to build a more inclusive Zopa. This follows successful employee groups such as our Women in Business Network with 120 members, a Trans Advoacy Group, and a D&I Forum that brings Zopians from a variety of backgrounds together.

We launched a new Zopa Purpose at our End of Year event in 2024. Zopians are working together to build The Home of Money . This refreshed purpose has enabled Zopians to collaborate across the business to achieve the ambitious goals we have for the bank year on year, with a renewed clarity on how we go about it. A recent example of this is the creation, design and launch of our current account 'Biscuit by Zopa'. Collaboration was key, with daily stand-up meetings for a cross-functional set of stakeholders and active Slack channels for live problem-solving. Zopains jumped in on every little detail, even when outside of their remit. This ensured Biscuit not only got over the line but was compelling enough to drive 10x sign-ups compared to our beta period. The positive results show in the publicity of Biscuit, with 465 press mentions to date, a positive response on social media led by 13 influencers, and internal comms on launch day, including a watch party for interviews on ITV and CNBC. This led to a lot of positive verbal employee feedback that the launch made them 'proud to work at Zopa'.