Searching for Mana with Lloyd Wahed UK banking's most eccentric founder/ceo opens up | Mark Mullen, Atom Bank
Mark Mullen (CEO anad co-founder of Atom Bank) joins Lloyd to discuss the state of UK fintech, mortgage and SME lending and what it takes to disrupt UK banking.
And he should know. Throughout his 30 years long career, Mark built his banking experience in a major incumbent bank - HSBC, and later resigned from the CEO position of first direct - one of the earliest adopters of digital UK banking - to take the first step on the next bold phase in his career, In 2014, he founded Atom Bank (with ex-Metro Bank co-founder) - UK’s first mobile bank built, with no branches, and the first digital-only challenger bank to be granted a full UK regulatory licence.
In this episode, Mark and Lloyd talk about who actually finances the UK banking sectors, why the current account system is broken, can we process a mortgage application in under 15 seconds, as well as the journey of building a company from employee one to +400. Plus, he shares with us, how is it to work with Atom Bank’s strategic advisor - Will.i.am.
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Episode Highlights:
03:04: How is the current banking system broken, and who is financing the banking sector
09:06: Why we shouldn’t have all banking products from one provider
14:35: How to process a mortgage application under 15 seconds
22:32: The need to change the banking industry and resigning from the firstdirect CEO role
27:36: Building a company from employee one to +400 and the importance of the organisational culture
35:19: The vision for the next 10 years
40:32: Mark’s Mana