The Start of Something Great

The entire Blue Finance Group met one another in Segovia, Spain to celebrate the company’s 10-year-milestone it reached last year. All four operating regions and almost 40 employees from six different countries were present at the same time – for the very first time, together!

Segovia is a beautiful city on the autonomous community of Castile-Léon and is filled with history. The city is located at the crossing of two rivers, the Eresma and Clamoros, at the foot of the mountain range Sierra de Guadarraman, about an hour drive from Madrid. The city is famous for its historical buildings, some of which include the Roman aqueduct and Alcácar de Segovia, a castle that used as the model for the world famous Walt Disney castle. The city centre was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985. For us, Segovia was the perfect location and environment to meet our colleagues.

 

The Value of Face to Face Contact is Truly Immeasurable

The main goal of the trip was to relax, get to know each other, and spend time together eating and celebrating, with a side of history and culture. We reached those goals many times over, and we received way more than we could have ever imagined.

As a corporation operating in different regions across Europe, we have always worked remotely and will continue to do so, working through screens, not seeing each other face to face. We even had employees who had never met any colleagues face to face on the trip. Faces were familiar, thanks to the screens, but a deeper connection with colleagues was still missing. After this trip, we truly are not just mystic characters on a Teams screen anymore. We are not just people with names and responsibilities. Now, we are colleagues who know each other much better. Colleagues with whom we can and dare to be our genuine selves. We recognise each other from our laughter. We are certain that from now on, we are going to be much more comfortable with contacting our colleagues and asking for help. We have discovered the real people behind the screen.

The food was delicious, and the history and surrounding environment were captivating, but above all, people welded together even stronger during the trip, and our trust deepened. Indeed, trust is the enabler for building brave and courageous culture of development throughout the entire organisation.

During the trip, we were able to setup four full scale workshops which often continued long into the evening in the form of conversation, accompanied by a glass of wine. The air was filled with belief towards the future – and, moving forward, innovating and sharing together will be that much easier.

Through the productive and entertaining workshop days, we were able to create synergy and launch inspiring new joint projects and ventures. Many of these projects would not have seen the light of day without our shared trip to Segovia.

 

Segovia Will Not Be Our Last Meeting

Our shared trips will continue, that much is certain! We are also going to organise meetings and events for individual teams more often in the future. We operate in several countries, so we will always work remotely with at least some of our colleagues, which means that people are missing out on coffee break chats – consequently, face to face meetings are more important than ever.

We will be reaping the fruits of this trip for quite a while – now, we know each other in a different way, and the increase in trust will create more efficiency, more results, more networks, more opportunities, and most importantly, innovation and new business operations.

 

Did You Know This About Us?

Number of loans doubled, and a start was made on B2B lending. External funding of €8.5 million received.

Blue Finance’s business performance in Denmark has taken great leaps forward during the start of the year. Consumer loans granted by Blue Finance Denmark ApS more than doubled year on year and despite strict regulation the company posted a profit in the first quarter of 2022. A start on corporate lending and a new subsidiary established for vehicle wholesale operation further strengthened the growth outlook for the rest of the year.

Blue Finance Denmark ApS had a strong start to the year and business performance has taken great leaps forward in recent months. Our Danish subsidiary started operations in 2019 and already last year successfully increased revenue by 78% (€3.3m) compared to the corresponding figure (€1.8m) in 2020. During the first quarter of this year, the company outperformed its target and revenue was €780k. Despite strict Danish regulation and a delay in the start of corporate lending to the spring, Blue Finance Denmark returned a profit in the first quarter. Constantly growing lending volumes have been an important factor in the company’s good performance. The amount of loans granted in Denmark during the first part of 2022 alone more than doubled compared to a year earlier.

“Our success in Denmark is a combination of serval factors, says CEO of Blue Finance Denmark,” Nicolai Dam. “We have been able to create a strong brand and a strong product that furthermore is valued by our customers – our score on Trustpilot is as high as 4,7 / 5.”

 

Start of corporate lending and vehicle wholesale operation

In April, we launched a vehicle wholesale operation in Denmark under the Blue Automotive Sales brand. This model gives us an extensive network of vehicle traders, who will pay a daily premium for an exclusive right to sell the vehicles purchased by Blue Automotive Sales.
“We have already made the first agreements with Blue Automotive Sales and we can expect new ones to be signed every week from now. We have a good product and there is really good potential for profitable business in this market, both in the short term and above all in the long run,” says Dam.
At the start of the year, a start was made in Denmark also on scaling up the corporate lending business with personal guarantees under the Broaden brand and this resulted in the first loans being granted soon after. Successful consumer credit in Denmark gives us every reason to expect good results also in corporate lending going forward. The Danish SME market is around €91 billion, 44% greater than Finland’s ~ €63bn.

 

Significant financing enables growth

The Danish business can expect significant growth for the rest of the year. So that we can respond to growing demand for consumer credit and corporate lending, our Danish subsidiary has agreed a total of €8.5 million in external funding. This is intended to above all accelerate growth in consumer credit as well as corporate lending and was received in two tranches. The first tranche was transferred for our use in January this year and we received the second in April.
“A key element in Blue Finance’s strategy is to enable investments in markets like Denmark, where there is future growth potential. The financing now obtained will thus improve the entire group’s profitability,” says CEO of Blue Finance Group, Lauri Lehtonen.

On the morning of Thursday 24 February, we woke up to the sad and shocking news of an extensive Russian invasion of Ukraine. The crisis also deeply affects us at Blue Finance and our thoughts are now with our Ukrainian colleagues and their families.

We have a significant IT development team in Ukraine and the most important thing for us at the moment is to ensure their safety. We have offered to evacuate all of them and their families, also those not directly employed by us, from the Polish border and to take them to safety in Warsaw. We have already had some of our employees transported to the Polish capital. In addition, one of our employees has been accommodated by us in Moldova, where this person is closer to ones relatives who have remained in Ukraine. Some of our employees are still blockaded in Ukraine and we are doing everything we can to help them by all available means. We have also offered financial help to those in the country and to their family members elsewhere in Europe.

Regrettably, no-one currently knows how long the war in Ukraine is likely to last. Our Ukrainian employees boldly continue to work as much as they can, but it is possible and likely that it will be more difficult to do so as the attack continues. This is why, we at Blue Finance have initiated the necessary measures to maintain the continuity and development capacity of our IT operations. The situation is therefore under control in terms of our operational activities.

Of the countries in which we operate, the crisis has had the most significant consequences for Poland. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raises a whole series of huge diplomatic, economic, security and humanitarian challenges for Poland. Our team in Poland is constantly monitoring the situation and are doing their best to help refugees arriving in the country. The crisis has not had an impact on Blue Finance’s operations in Poland.

Blue Finance offers fascinating jobs for a variety of IT professionals. In a company where customers are paramount, employees are challenged and truly get to develop their professional skills.

Mikko Maijanen has worked in finance for eight years. At the beginning of his career, Mikko handled credits in customer service and was then promoted to customer service management. He subsequently worked in several roles within IT. At Blue Finance, Mikko Maijanen started to work as Global IT Support Manager in the spring of 2021.

– This role was familiar because of my earlier experience but Blue Finance was a lucrative opportunity for me due to the startup mentality and huge prospects for growth. I absolutely wanted to be a part of a fantastic story. Here, I also get to develop and have an influence on things more than before, Mikko explains.

At Blue Finance, Mikko works on the front lines. Most support tasks find their way first to him and one by one customers’ concerns are resolved. Issues are often small and simple.

– It fits my character and I get satisfaction from solving one problem at a time.

Mikko’s team of four are responsible for support requests that come from the entire Blue Finance Group. Therefore, support requests come from Denmark, Spain, and Poland, in addition to Finland. Being a small agile team of four allows tasks to be handled efficiently.

– Our work flows smoothly because we have good, constant communication. The goal is to always learn from our mistakes.

 

Success drives us forward

Mikko has always enjoyed working with customers and working at Blue Finance has proven to be just what he expected.

– At Blue Finance the atmosphere is invigorating and inspiring. Here one can really see that every team and employee has the will and vigour to move forward. Furthermore, I love that my tasks vary a lot and that I get to work on different things and businesses. Success is daily.

Although his work does sometimes come home with him, Mikko has become used to it. It fits his character because he tends not to stress and he thoroughly enjoys his work.

 

The startup mentality has not faded with growth

Even though Blue Finance has grown quickly, Mikko thinks that the typical startup mentality of a small company has remained. For example, at the start of his new job, Mikko did not receive a cold reception, which can be the case in a corporate setting, but he felt warmly welcomed from day one.

Mikko sees a bright future at Blue Finance. According to Mikko, this company from Turku has unlimited potential and he believes that growth will continue and goals will be surpassed.

– I can recommend Blue Finance as an employer for anyone who wants to be a part of a dynamic group that is ready to move forward and be successful.

The difference of opinion with the Consumer Ombudsman, regarding voluntary additional services, will finally be resolved by the Market Court. Blue Finance is pleased with the news and considers this course of action to be the correct decision to help bring legal clarity.

The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (FCCA) has intervened with our operations by citing the Consumer Protection Act (CPA). The CPA states that payments should not be requested from a consumer, who either pays other credit expenses besides the interest rate, or other credit expenses, besides the amount of credit that has been agreed upon or the credit limit, that exceed them by 0,01 percent a day over the duration of the contract. According to the FCCA, Blue Finance should cease from offering services such as paper invoicing or accelerated credit application handling if requesting payment from them would lead to a situation where credit costs exceed the maximum amount of credit costs stipulated by the CPA. Blue Finance does not share the FCCA’s stance on this matter. According to the CPA, expenses that are based on additional services and do not act as a prerequisite for a loan approval do not count as credit costs. The letter of the law, as well as its purpose, are both clear, that these expenses do not fall under the curfew of “credit expenses“ defined by the CPA. The consumer has been entitled to receive credit with the same terms and conditions, whether they choose to take advantage of the voluntary additional services or not. These services are entirely optional, and they only exist to improve the services provided by us to our customers. Producing these services also results in additional expenses for us.

”Classifying something such as paper invoicing as an inherent part of a loan contract is quite peculiar. We are a fully digitalized credit service that offers free-of-charge e-invoices to all of our customers and they can also access their invoices and information online at any time. Paper invoicing is an optional service separately selected by the customer and charging for it is based on the comparatively high cost of sending invoices by post these days,” says Petra Mengelt, CEO of Blue Finance Suomi Oy.

Blue Finance Suomi Oy has presented their view on this matter to the FCCA in a very detailed manner and argued their stance based on both the law and the regulations dictated by the European Union. This stance has also been backed by statements made by several experts saying that the FCCA’s view on this matter is contradictory to a law that is quite clear in its wording.

Blue Finance has been waiting for the FCCA to reach a decision on this matter for over six months and now they hope for this matter to be decided by the Market Court. The FCCA’s announcement on 28.1. ensures that matters are going to proceed in the appropriate order. Blue Finance is very pleased with this and considers it to be the correct decision because it helps bring legal clarity.

”We think it’s great that the FCCA has admitted that their stance might not be the only correct stance and that they’ve settled on letting the Market Court decide on this matter. Our stance differs from the FCCA’s one, and we expect the Market Court to eventually decide the matter in our favor. It is clear, however, that Blue Finance is going to respect whatever decision the court reaches on this matter and act accordingly,” summarizes Mengelt.

For Blue Finance, being the leading financial service provider also means being efficient in terms of technology. This means the company provides a dynamic and interesting workplace for developers to create new solutions to various technical challenges. Read the story of Alexander and discover what made him want to jump from his previous work in business to the ever-changing world of software development.

Alexander didn’t start out as a software developer. In the beginning of his career, he worked on various companies in various positions, mainly in business functions. Gradually his job began to also include aspects of technology. “I had a good understanding of what was happening in the business side and the technical team. I decided that I wanted to move into the action of the technical team”, he recounts. What particularly motivated Alexander was the fact that, as opposed to his previous job, he felt he was able to see the results of his work. “With software development, at the end of every day you realise that you did something, and you see the results. Some part of the functionality that didn’t exist before has now become a reality.”

At his previous organization, Alexander was assigned to a project that was done in cooperation with Blue Finance. Through this work, Alexander not only was able to work on some amazing things, but also see inside the goings of Blue Finance and meet a lot of good people with great attitude. Finally, this experience encouraged him to join the company in 2020.

Starting his job at Blue Finance, Alexander was immediately swept away in the fast-paced rhythm of the company. Mere months into his stay, the company launched a new branch of operation in Spain. “We build all the infrastructure and all the technical capabilities. I remember those first couple of days, we saw each loan application and tracked each step of it. It was all very exciting”, he describes.

 

Blue Finance creates an environment of continuous learning and adapting

For Alexander, working at Blue Finance is like studying at a university: Every day you have some problem that you don’t know the answer to. You need to study and investigate it to understand what the best solution would be. What makes the work especially interesting is that there are no clear yes/no answers, or one obvious correct scenario of how to proceed. “You think about all possible scenarios, you talk to your teammates and share your thoughts and opinions about what should be the best way to implement something. This is the way we make decisions”, says Alexander.

Blue Finance places a lot of focus on technological efficiency, and the company has recently undergone a year-long process to renew the company platform. Virtually all the loan application processes are automated, which creates exciting challenges for software developers to create programs that can be adapted to different situations. There are multiple steps that go into granting a loan: the program must be able to process information given by the applicant, gather further information from different sources, based on this information create a decision of whether the loan is granted or not, and in the case of a positive decision trigger the transaction and make sure that the money is transferred to the right person.

Alexander also notes that since Blue Finance is and international company with operations in several counties, the program must also take into account all the different situations and regulations specific to the market in question. This means the programs used must be easily modified to fit into various situations. “There are a lot of similarities, but also a lot of differences, and we need to keep this in mind when designing our tools. Our goal is to build a platform that consists of different blocks. Based on the specific market we can just orchestrate and design communication between these blocks”, he explains.

 

Energy from the versatile playing field and wonderful team members

What makes work at Blue Finance particularly exciting for Alexander is the way he gets to do various things in various fields. He is especially happy about the fact that the company uses multiple servers. “We have multiple areas, so you’re not stuck on one particular area, and it doesn’t get boring.” He also feels that his previous background in business gives him excellent understanding of the company’s big picture and priorities, as well as skills in communication.

Alexander’s favourite part of his current job is the ability to see the result of his efforts and the knowledge that the new features he has created bring a lot of value to people. He also commends the great team at Blue Finance and the versatile field of work. “I really appreciate the attitude of all the team members. If you have an issue, you can contact a team member to get help. The work also stays interesting because you switch from one service to another, and you have tasks with different specifics with different markets”, Alexander summarizes.

And what does Alexander think a new employee entering Blue Finance would encounter? “Definitely they will meet a good team with great attitude, as well as a variety of services. They will certainly be able to learn a lot of new stuff.”

Blue Finance has once again been rewarded Kauppalehti Achievers-certificate. The certificate, given only to a small number of Finnish companies, shows that in terms of financial capacities, the company is included among both the top companies in Finland as well as the companies in its particular field. This is the sixth time in a row Blue Finance has received the certificate, which means that the company has also received the distinguished Recurring Achievers -badge.

Blue Finance, a company providing international consumer credit and business financing, has received the Kauppalehti Recurring Achievers -badge. Only 2 percent of Finnish limited liability companies are able to reach this honour, which is awarded for companies that have received at least 50 points in Alma Talent’s Achievers-grading for five years in a row.

Having been awarded the Achievers-certificate since the year 2016, Blue Finance’s Recurring Achievers -badge is based on the accounting periods between 2016/06 and 2021/05. Based on the comparison, Blue Finance has been ranked as one of the best companies among all the Finnish companies as well as all the companies in its field. Blue Finance was compared to companies providing other financial service activities except insurance and pension funding.

The Achievers-ranking examines a company’s operation in six areas: a positive growth development, established operations, good profit and profitability, strong financial structure, and continuing liquidity that can ensure the company’s operation. Based on expert evaluations, the revenue of Blue Finance (LLC) in the long term has been good: the combined net earnings from the last five fiscal years were 33.9 million euros, with the average yearly gain being 6.8 million euros. On the long term, the gain on equity has been 18.4 percent.

”We are extremely happy and proud to receive this great honour and of the fact that our company is among the best in our field. The Recurring Achievers -badge shows that our operation is also on the long term of high quality and secure”, says the chief executive officer Lauri Lehtonen.

 

Last year saw a slight dip – however, this did not have a large effect on net earnings

According to the expert evaluation, the net earnings of Blue Finance had a slight decrease (-0.1 percentage points) in the year 2021 compared to the previous year. Despite of this, the revenue was still clearly positive. Even though the company’s net earnings decreased, the percent of net earnings rose remarkably from the previous fiscal year (+7.5 percentage points). The experts also noted that in the long-term Blue Finance’s revenue has been good.

Even though the financial autonomy ratio of Blue Finance (LLC) showed some decrease (-3.4 percentage points) from the previous year, it was still on an excellent level. The company’s buffers for loss were 66.7 million euros at the end of the fiscal year, or 280.3 percent of the net revenue, which according to the expert evaluation supports well the company’s ongoing operation. As a result of small indebtedness, the company’s financial margin for manoeuvre was good, which allows the company to obtain further funding if needed. Furthermore, the evaluation determined that the company’s internal financing was in order and the debt sustainability was good.

 

The new Recurring Achievers heads for the future with a strong growth strategy

Blue Finance, which this year celebrated its 10th birthday, has executed several large-scale renewals in 2021. The company has finished the year-long process of platform renewal, which allows the company to better tackle the needs of customers, thus increasing its operation to a larger and better direction.

The company, having offices in Finland, Denmark, and Spain, has also extended its operation by establishing a new subsidiary in Poland. Blue Finance Polska, founded in the spring of 2021, officially started its operation in September by issuing a loan to its first customer in Poland.

”Blue Finance has a strong strategy for profitable growth. We aim to further our operation also in the future by developing new loan products and expanding into new market areas”, says Lehtonen.