Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE), an industry association for fintech lenders in India, has announced the appointment of Sugandh Saxena, as its first CEO.
Saxena's appointment comes as FACE has applied to the RBI to become the Self-Regulatory Organisation (SRO) for the digital lending industry.
Saxena has moved to FACE from the Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN) and comes with over two decades of experience across sectors like microfinance, social-economic development, technology and non-profit. As the Head of Self-Regulation and Compliance at MFIN, an SRO for the microfinance sector, she played a pivotal role in shaping the microfinance industry with conversations with the regulators and industry players to formulate and to enforce ethical guidelines for the industry. She has diverse and hands-on experience in leading industry-building efforts through the industry body and the SRO. Saxena has also held roles at ITC, Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) Bharat, and Bharat Electronics.
Saxena is an electronics engineering graduate from MNNIT, Allahabad and a postgraduate in Social Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
At FACE, Sugandh will aim to drive the Association's efforts to engage in an active dialogue with the policymakers, regulators, digital lenders and other market participants to build an ethical, safe lending ecosystem for consumers, and to work with stakeholders in developing choices for the consumers as part of financial inclusion.
Speaking on her new role, Saxena said, "New-age digital lenders have addressed huge credit gaps by improving choice and convenience across credit needs and customer segments, left unaddressed for years. With the power of technology and innovation spearheaded by the Governmental policies in encouraging usage of technology to widen financial access, digital lending has pushed the boundaries of financial inclusion unthinkable in the traditional credit approach. I look forward to working with regulators, policy makers, our member companies and potential member participants, and other industry stakeholders in creating adequate framework to empower consumers, and to make India's digital lending industry a global benchmark."
FACE was constituted in September 2020 with the aim to bring together fintech lenders and the larger digital lending ecosystem to collectively advance fair and customer-centric lending practices through engagement in areas of policy and business environment, self-regulation and consumer empowerment. FACE's member companies cater to more than half of the consumer lending market volumes in India.
