MEET PENNY, OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

2024-05-16 12:31:49.0

Following an exciting period of development and growth, Penelope Clarke has joined BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK as Chief Operating Officer.

Penny’s career history spans across various industries, including telecommunications and banking, working with companies such as Vodafone and Lloyds Banking Group. Alongside her new role at BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK, Penny also serves as a Non-Executive Director for Wales Rugby League.

As our new Chief Operating Officer, Penny plays a pivotal role in our journey to transform the customer experience. We sat down with Penny to find out more about how her ambitions for operations at BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK, and how she will be using her diverse experience to deliver a service that’s simple, straightforward, and efficient.

Penny’s vision

Since joining the organisation, Penny has been developing a strategy that will enable us to serve the needs of our customers, partners and colleagues more efficiently. Touching on this, Penny outlined the four key pillars of her strategy:

1. Maximising self-service and automation — adopting technologies that will empower customers with self-service capabilities.
2. Support structures for teams — facilitating employee progression, as well as cross-department communication to create a unified approach.
3. Reducing drivers for customer contact — reducing the need for enquiries by addressing issues raised by customers.
4. Simplifying processes — keeping things clear and simple for customers.

Penny explained: “A huge focus in my role of Chief Operating Officer is ensuring that we are making changes that will enable us to work faster, better, and smarter. At the very core of our operations at BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK is a customer-first mindset — a mindset that I intend to champion at every opportunity.”

Thinking customer first

Over the past five decades, we have pioneered, anticipated change and adapted to meet the evolving needs of our customers, partners and colleagues. A huge contributor to our success over the last 50 years is our ability to think customer-first and put ourselves in the shoes of the people we support.

To continue our customer-first approach and embed this in our operations across the business, Penny explained: “Embracing new technology is the way forward when it comes to supporting our customers, colleagues, and partners. Currently, we’re testing new technologies and evolving our processes to ensure the organisation remains agile and responsive to evolving customer needs.”

“In addition to my focus on technology, I’m also a very big advocate for our people. I’m incredibly passionate about doing the right thing and putting in place ample opportunities for personal and professional development. There’s a lot more we can do to support our colleagues and ensure they are best prepared to assist our customers.”

Penny continued: “From start to finish, I want to develop our processes to ensure seamless interactions with customers, leaving them with a positive experience, knowing their concerns have been listened to and resolved.”

Find out more about how we’re driving positive change.