Blue Finance has appointed Petra Mengelt as the new Country Manager in charge of consumer operations in Finland. Mengelt, who took up the post of Country Manager in October 2020, wants to improve the consumer credit company’s customer experience offering and to invest in a meaningful and motivated workplace culture.

Petra Mengelt has been appointed Blue Finance’s Country Manager in charge of consumer operations in Finland. Mengelt, who took up the post in October 2020, wants to improve the customer experience that consumer credit operations provide and to invest in motivated workplace culture to ensure that Blue Finance is able to face the growing competition in the industry also in the future.

Before starting to work in the Fintech sector almost ten years ago, Mengelt’s previous experience comes from the international aerospace and metal industries. She has also worked as a management consultant gaining insight in successful management practices. Mengelt applies the ideas of the lean management concept in the development of management and operations, something she brings to the table from her time working in the international environment.

“I’m very excited that it is Mengelt that we have as Blue Finance’s Country Manager for Finland. She has had an interesting career, and she provides the company with a lot of valuable insight from other consumer credit companies as well as an understanding of how a fast-growing business is run. It’ll be great to see how Petra takes the business in Finland forward,” says Lauri Lehtonen, CEO of Blue Finance Group.

 

Mengelt seeks to drive growth through digitalisation and continuous development of operations

As the new country manager, Mengelt is especially passionate about developing Blue Finance’s customer experience. Improved digital services and smooth interaction guarantee continuous customer satisfaction.

“Investing in customer experience is a resource that has been ignored by the consumer credit industry. I want to see a huge change in this aspect. A good customer experience is the basis for more committed and long-lasting customer relationships,” says Mengelt.

The customer interface is being developed on the basis of customer feedback, for example. Digital services also allow for immediate response: automation and robotics are a big part of everyday customer service, leaving time to develop other activities.

“Efficient and communicative cooperation amongst employees enables us to continuously develop our products and procedures. We take customer feedback into account in all our activities. When we share a clear goal and objectives, we can measure the effectiveness of our operations. Then we are one step ahead of the others,” says Mengelt.

 

2020 also challenging for consumer credit companies

The consumer credit sector has undergone big changes over the past year: competition has intensified while some competitors have disappeared. The new act on the interest rate cap imposed by the Finnish government has also brought challenges to the sector that need to be addressed without delay. Despite all challenges, however, Blue Finance has been able to grow over the past 12 months: in addition to Finland, Denmark and Spain, the company is expanding its operations to Poland.

“Even though the company is growing, I want to nurture a sort of start-up atmosphere: the best decisions and the most interesting ideas come from working together, not from behind the management team’s closed doors. Employees are also more committed when they have a say on operations and how to improve them. They come up with some crazy ideas that, once further developed, benefit both our customers and our shareholders,” says Mengelt.

Blue Finance will continue to invest in multi-channel, clear and easily accessible consumer credit activities, top-of-the-range customer service and gaining customer trust. The company will make sure to guarantee both user-friendliness and the security of its digital services.