Sustainability drives every decision we make

We’re leading the way

We take a prominent leadership role within our sector, working closely with peers and regulators to set standards for fair collections, develop codes of conduct for the industry, and influence policy makers through our wide-ranging research and unrivalled data gathering abilities.

Unique amongst our peers, our research ability, advocacy, insights, and data are in line with those found in mature, international financial services companies. As a Group, we have over 15 million customers. And in the UK alone, we have a past/present relationship with one in five adults.

We’re a member of the debt collection associations of every country we work in

We’re an affiliate member and sponsor of the Federation of European National Collection Associations (FENCA). In the UK, we work closely with our industry trade body, the Credit Services Association (CSA), and we’re members of the Enforcement Conduct Board (ECB) and the Institute of Customer Services (ICS). We are members of the BDIU (Federal Association of Germany Debt Collection Companies) in DACH, the Associations for Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish debt collection companies, and the Association of Trade Services in Norway. 

We help fund free independent debt advice in the UK

We’re members of the Money Advice Trust’s Vulnerability Academy and the Collaboration Network, which help fund the UK’s free debt advice sector. In 2022, we contributed £3.2 million through Fair Share contribution, helping to make free independent debt support available to those in need.

We’re using our leadership status to tackle the stigma of debt

People struggling with problem debt often feel a sense of shame and embarrassment.

We believe this is unfair and unwarranted, which is why we’re working with clients, partners, and charities to rehabilitate the image of debt and to help improve the understanding of the impacts of our industry. Our aim is to improve the financial health of customers and colleagues, and to have a positive impact on consumers by influencing standards and regulation.

Advocacy was a key focus throughout 2023

John Pears, Lowell’s UK CEO, took part in high-level policy discussions in Westminster and joined a major party-political conference in Liverpool (with the Centre for Social Justice) where he discussed the improvements the UK needs to make to its financial education, starting with the inclusion of financial literacy in the everyday life of schools and workplaces.

We also launched two new channels in 2023 in response to demand: the ‘Focus’ online magazine in the Nordics; and business podcasts on our DACH YouTube channel.

We talk to the government, charities, and organisations like the Centre for Social Justice about helping customers in vulnerable situations; the need for statutory breathing space; the value of sustainability; and financial abuse. 

We are proud of our work going beyond for our clients, which is reflected in the strong client satisfaction score of 8.1, and world-class UK client NPS score of 81, that we achieved in 2023.

We run the UK’s first Financial Vulnerability Index

Since launching the innovative FVI in 20217, we’ve used it to measure and track financial resilience, nationally and locally, across the UK. It brings together publicly available measures and Lowell’s proprietary data to paint a clear picture of financial vulnerability in the UK, giving users valuable insight into the financial health of people across the country.

Alongside other research, this data supports our activities lobbying for improving school and workplace financial education, and for the introduction of a Minister for Financial Inclusion.

Go to the Financial Vulnerability Index

We’re helping people better understand debt

We’re expanding awareness and understanding of debt within society, helping to grow people’s financial knowledge and skills.

Normalising the conversation about debt

We want to take the stigma out of the ‘D’ word. As well as bringing debt issues out into the open and championing financial education, we see an essential element of our role as ensuring that people struggling with debt know that they are not alone.

Consumer research in the UK and DACH

Our commissioned research across the UK and DACH, has revealed that financial topics dominate mainstream media and come up repeatedly in Google searches. People are hungry for information about the problems surrounding debt, the cost-of-living crisis, and how to manage family finances.

We continue to run campaigns designed to encourage conversation about debt and to give people practical hints and tips about how to weather the financial storm, reaching over 10 million consumers in 2023.

Worries vary across the regions

Since 2017, the Lowell Financial Vulnerability Index (FVI) has been providing data to help describe the financial health of the UK. As we can tailor the data down to parliamentary constituency level, the FVI has proved to be a rigorous policy advocacy tool for us.

Our research, a study by the National Financial Educator’s Council, and work by the Centre of Social Justice has shown that poor financial education in the UK is a key driver of financial vulnerability.

For example, in 2023 nearly one fifth of adults worried about being able to afford to feed their children during school holidays. 46% of adults acknowledged their poor financial knowledge resulted in them suffering financial ill health.

People in DACH have a different relationship with debt. Our research shows that debt is normal for most young people. There, while debt is socially acceptable and doesn’t carry the taboo that it does in the UK, 80% of people are in favour of more financial education in schools.

To address this financial knowledge gap, we translated our findings into campaigns across the UK and DACH, such as our ‘Money 101’ and ‘Family Finance’ campaigns. In the DACH region, we also converted our findings into educational YouTube videos and podcasts.

Over 1.5 million consumers explored topics including the psychological impacts of debt; younger generations and debt; and people’s beliefs about buying on credit.

Enduring partnership with the Centre of Social Justice 

Our partnership with the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) continues.

Through our partnership, we’re lobbying for employers to improve their colleagues’ financial health through the provision of tools and programmes. In 2023, we joined government debates, roundtables, and political conferences to raise awareness of the whole life impacts of problem debt, and to promote improvements in industry standards.

During 2023, we: 

• Helped fund the CSJ's Debt Management United for the second year;
• Gathered data about the changing landscape of financial education;
• Continued to engage with the government on financial education and literacy amongst young people; and
• Launched a parent/child financial literacy pilot project with The Money Charity in the UK, involving Lowell colleagues and family members, focusing on budgeting, saving, and investing.

Policy recommendations

In the UK, we’re calling for three policy recommendations to help improve financial wellbeing:

• Mobilising employers to provide financial education at the workplace for their colleagues.
• Raising non-regulated debt collection standards.
• Improving access to affordable credit
  
  

Financial education packs for schools in the Nordics

Our Nordic Manifesto advocated public policy and action on a common national debt register, personal finance in the curriculum for secondary schools, and better advice for the public in general.

We also provided hundreds of printed education packs and teacher support guides for schools in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, alongside digital versions and ‘train the teacher’ sessions. Teachers in Sweden asked for over 500 hard copies during 2023 alone.

Gender equality

As a leading European credit management services provider, Lowell is committed to providing a respectful, inclusive environment and a working culture that is productive, positive, and fair for all our colleagues.

We are enthusiastic advocates for gender equality, believing that a balanced workforce at all levels of the company is essential in building a strong, resilient, and profitable business.
Gender balance across senior management roles is a key goal for us, which is why we’re currently focusing on finding female successors for leadership roles. 

We are also steadily removing legacy gender barriers by changing our policies on maternity (and parental) pay and conditions, reward, and part-time working. 
We are signatories of the Women in Finance charter in the UK and the Charta der Vielfalt in DACH. 

Giving back to the community

We believe we have a responsibility to the communities we serve.

Our colleagues have a keen sense of wanting to do good. For many of us, working for Lowell isn’t just a job, it’s a way we can do something important – to help make life better for people going through a tough time.

We also contribute to the wellbeing of our communities

We encourage and support volunteering wherever possible, giving our colleagues across the UK, DACH, and the Nordics regions an annual (paid) Volunteering Day when they can support the causes they care about. Around 500 colleagues used their day in 2023, giving almost 3000 hours. It’s all part of our mission: to make credit work better for all. As a business, we also donate to various charities, including matching funds raised by colleagues. These include organisations that:

• Supply financial education services.
• Help people get out of poverty.
• Care for the homeless.
• Provide food parcels.
• Support people with mental health issues.

Sustainability Development Group

The SDG is responsible for all aspects of our sustainability strategy, from recommendations for the strategy and its development, through to delivering, embedding, and communicating it. Our Group Chief Risk Officer chairs the SDG with support from our Group Head of Sustainability. The SDG reports to the Group Executive Committee. 

Group Sustainability Committee

The GSC is an exceptional instrument of governance in our sector: only 13% of FTSE 100 non-banking financial service companies have a comparable Board-level committee. Chaired by a Non-Executive Director, it gives strategic advice, leadership, and challenge to the Board about Lowell’s sustainability agenda, and sets our appetite and ambition thresholds at a Board level.

Our approach to risk  

Our Risk Framework defines essential risk management components and includes key principles and standards. We underpin this framework with standard operating procedures covering developing Risk Appetite, policy governance, top-down risk assessment, risk control self-assessment, risk incident management, issue management, and risk acceptance.

This rigorous approach helps us protect our company, customers, clients, investors, and colleagues. We do so through informed risk decision-making and by sticking to robust risk management processes. We have instilled a risk-focussed culture throughout the company and at all levels. We follow best practices even where there isn’t a regulatory requirement for us to do so.

A three-lines-of-defence model anchors our risk strategy:

Download more information about our approach to risk.

‘We see risk as a connected system across our business, our customers, our partners and the wider world – we’re striving to build a resilient business while addressing broader challenges such as social vulnerability and climate change.’

Eva Eisenschimmel, Group Chief Risk Officer

Redefining risk across the UK, DACH, and the Nordics

In 2023, we made significant changes to how we communicate risk appetite across the regions to help decision-makers better understand both our appetite and our tolerances. Working with people from each region, we produced a series of risk statements written in plain English, each with a clear call to action.

This set of risk appetite statements guide our decision-makers to make the correct decisions during uncertain situations. All Lowell employees must work within the defined risk appetite and controls.

It’s mandatory to report any operation occurring outside these controls (or guardrails) to the regional Chief Risk Officer. All breaches of our risk tolerance must be reported to regional and Board risk committees.

The Lowell Risk Library

The Lowell Risk Library helps us identify, understand, and manage risk.

It’s held on the Xactium [software] platform, which allows users to run risk assessments, report incidents, and track progress on improvement actions. We updated the platform in 2023 to align with the Group structure and risk maturity, and to clearly reflect our business models across the regions. Working with the regional risk teams also helped us understand the needs and unique risk positions of each region.

Read more about our data protection and information security.

Business ethics in action

We have a series of policies – with performance tracking in place – to support high standards of ethical conduct:

Data security, protection, and privacy

We cover this across a range of Group and regional policies. All colleagues undertake annual mandatory training with 99% of eligible colleagues completing it in 2023.

Financial crime regional policies

We give annual mandatory training to all colleagues, so they are aware of their compliance and regulatory obligations, and risk-based best practice. In 2023, 99% of eligible colleagues completed this training.

Gifts, hospitality, conflicts of interest

Our Code of Conduct training covers a variety of ethical situations.

Whistleblowing

We actively promote a culture where colleagues feel free and safe to speak up about any concerns. Our Group Whistleblowing policy is available on our intranet. It sets out the formal and informal options available to colleagues wanting to raise issues anonymously and confidentially.

Our climate goals

We re-set our climate goals in August 2023 and committed to the Science Based Targets initiative. We will:

• Reduce operational emissions by 65% (from the 2019 baseline) by 2025 for Scope 1 and 2 emissions and from business travel.
• Hit carbon neutral by 2025 for Scope 1 and 2 emissions and from business travel.
• Use 100% renewable electricity in all offices by 2025.
• Cut emissions in our value chain by a ‘significant’ amount – within the SBTi guidelines – during the next 5-10 years. We will publish this ‘near-term’ target by the end of 2025.
• Agree a 'long-term target' to reach the SBTi Net Zero standard by 2040, which we’ll publish by the end of 2025.
  
  

What do we mean by Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions?

These are the standard categories of emissions that companies create in their own operations and through their value chain.

• Scope 1: this covers all the emissions that a company makes directly, like those from company cars and emissions from manufacturing processes.
• Scope 2: indirect emissions like heating and electricity, which the company doesn’t produce itself.
• Scope 3: the emissions that a company is indirectly responsible for, like the goods and services we buy, colleagues commuting to the office, and so on throughout the value chain.

Emissions in the value chain

To reduce our value chain emissions, we’re preparing to monitor supplier emissions, include environmental criteria in supplier selection, and enable colleagues to use low carbon transport for their commutes.

We worked on a full inventory of our Scope 3 GHG emissions data for 2023, covering all categories relevant to our business activities, including:

Purchased goods and services, and capital goods account for 90% of our scope 3 emissions across regional operations.

Employee commuting accounts for 8% of our scope 3 emissions.

To contribute to reduction targets, colleagues need easy access to low-emission modes of transport: rail, cycling, and electric vehicles. In the UK, our new office at Thorpe Park in Leeds has excellent transport services and over 70 electric car charging points on site.

During 2024 we will complete a review of the availability of low-emission transport methods for each of our top ten sites (defined by a combination of factors including number of colleagues based there and emissions intensity).