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AXSChat with Kathryn Townsend, Mark Horrocks and Emily Baum 11th Feb 2025
Kathryn has been leading the advancement of accessibility in business for more than a decade. In addition to her day job as Head of Customer Vulnerability & Accessibility at Nationwide Building Society, Kathryn is the Government’s Disability & Access Ambassador for the banking sector. Kathryn’s key priorities as Ambassador include tackling barriers faced by deaf and hard of hearing people, in accessing and understanding financial services and increasing visibility of the needs of people with a learning disability. Prior to joining Nationwide, Kathryn led the disability and vulnerability program at Barclays. Kathryn is a trustee of Euan’s Guide the disabled access charity and is part of the Project Nemo team tackling financial exclusion.
Mark has held senior commercial roles across multiple industry sectors, most recently in the Fintech industry. He has worked with both major players and start-ups to use the latest technology to deliver innovative payments services to both consumers and B2B enabled channels. Mark has been involved with Down’s Syndrome Oxford for eighteen years and is now working with the Project Nemo team to challenge the Fintech industry to deliver safe spending solutions for People with Learning Disabilities.
Emily has worked in the fintech space for over a decade having collaborated with some of the most successful providers in the financial services space. She has held key leadership roles at Worldpay, and Mastercard, been an SMB and run her own payments consulting firm. Emily’s biggest achievement was becoming a parent to a child with learning disabilities, which has driven her passion for inclusivity within payments and her drive to continue to innovate within the sector.
Questions:
Q1 How can financial institutions ensure their products and services are accessible to all customers, including those with disabilities? #AXSChat #Accessibility
Q2 What are the key challenges and opportunities in making digital banking more inclusive for people with disabilities? #AXSChat #InclusiveDesign
Q3 How can the financial sector better support deaf customers beyond providing sign language interpreters and captions? #AXSChat #DeafInclusion
Q4 The UK has government disability champions are you aware of similar roles in other countries and if so what impact can champions have in improving accessibility in various industries? #AXSChat #DisabilityAdvocacy
Q5 What innovative solutions are being developed to help people with learning disabilities manage their finances independently? #AXSChat #FinTech
Q6 How can collaboration between banks, fintechs, and regulators drive positive change for disabled consumers? #AXSChat #Collaboration
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