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5 minutes with Richard Kennerley, CEO of Ampla Finance

September 23, 2021 | Categorised in:

5 minutes with Richard Kennerley, CEO of Ampla Finance

To celebrate the arrival of our first CEO, we sat down with the man himself – Richard Kennerley – to find out a bit more about why he joined Ampla, what his long-term plans are for the business and hear why he was especially pleased to see Team GB pip Australia in the Tokyo Olympics medal table! 

Q: What compelled you to join Ampla Finance?

Richard: To put it simply, Ampla is a good business in a specialist market focusing on consumer finance.  It is a business with a fantastic offering and underlying ethos – founded on a real commitment to the customer – and I really wanted to be part of that story.

I’ve worked in finance for long enough to know that businesses that truly prize integrity, professionalism and excellent levels of customer service will flourish. These values really sit at the heart of Ampla.

At the same time, it’s a crucial time in the legal finance market, which is really starting to mature. There is a real opportunity here for Ampla to become the market leader.

Q: How have you found your first couple of months at Ampla?

Richard: I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve been impressed by the dedicated team that I’ve inherited. They know not just the business inside and out, but the market, too, and it is down to them that Ampla is in such a strong position.

The last few months have also taught me a lot about the current state of the family law market in the UK. I’ve worked with numerous law firms in the past and have led other consumer finance businesses, but this market is somewhat unique. As such, it is critically important that we are easy to do business with, with efficient B2B and B2C channels to market.

One thing that has really struck me about the market is just how closely it marries consumer and corporate finance. I think there is huge potential for the legal finance market as a whole to grow over the coming months and years and that’s certainly something that we at Ampla will be looking to play a big part in.

Q: You worked in Australia for ten years – how does the legal finance market differ on the other side of the globe?

Richard: The first thing to say would be that the Australian market is much smaller and not as well developed as the UK market.

Since coming back to the UK last year, I’ve also been interested to see just how well developed the UK fintech market is here and how the use of technology by UK businesses has vastly improved the levels and quality of customer service.

It’s also been nice to hear a traditional “good morning” rather than the “G’day” welcome I’ve received for the last decade!

Q: Can you share your plans and ambitions for Ampla in the coming years?

Richard: I want us to be the number one provider for legal finance in our chosen markets and in our chosen product offerings. We already have fantastic relationships with our clients, but I believe this is something we can build on and really differentiate ourselves on – becoming the market leader in customer service and relationship management in the process.

The market has changed over the course of the last few months, but as a business we’re well-funded, agile and innovative. Within the last few months, for example, we’ve launched our Legacy loans in Scotland – the first time this product is available in the country. The launch has proved to be a great success and has given us further food for thought about new products we can launch and new markets we can reach as and where further opportunities arise.

Q: What are the main differences between running a fast-growing challenger brand like Ampla compared to running a large division in a business the size of National Australia Bank and CYBG?

Richard: I have to say that I’ve loved my time working in both big and small businesses, each of which bring their own challenges and advantages! One benefit of running a smaller business is that there is the opportunity to be more agile and more innovative than many larger outfits. I’m keen to ensure that Ampla is always a forward-thinker and remains ahead of the curve, and due to our size, that is something that we are and absolutely can maintain!

Q: What do you like to do outside of work?

Richard: Being a huge sports fan, it’s been great to be back in the motherland for the last year or so. Australia is really proud of its sporting heritage so it was fantastic to see Team GB beat the Aussies in the Olympics medal table.

I’m also a tragic golfer and have just returned from a few days playing in St Andrews which was amazing.