Two Award Wins Show How Acima Marries Cultures of Innovation and Compliance

It’s not unusual to think of a fintech company’s product development and legal teams as opposing forces. The former works to create and deliver new solutions to market, and too often perceives the latter’s focus on ensuring compliance as an obstacle to progress. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Acima recently won two awards that proves it’s possible to both foster a spirit of innovation and create a culture of compliance.

First, congratulations to Acima Executive Vice President Jason Hogg, who was recently recognized as a Top 100 Global Leader in Finance by Global Conference on Insurance & Finance (GCIF) for his work developing new fintech solutions that are changing how the tens of millions of cash and credit constrained consumers and retailers transact. Nominees were judged based on their overall reach, industry impact, spirit of innovation, future readiness and market demand.

Jason will place the GCIF award next to other Innovator of the Year awards he has won over the last several years including the 2019 Business Insurance Innovation Award for Aon’s Cyber Quotient Evaluation (CyQu) tool that he invented, and the 2016 Innovator of the Year Award from EFI Financing.

Jason’s commitment to developing solutions that empower underserved consumers informs Acima’s product development roadmap. He’s the driving force behind the development of the Acima platform of lease-to-own solutions that are creating incremental sales opportunities for retailers and enabling cash and credit constrained consumers to shop with newly found confidence and choice.

Acima develops innovative products and technologies that work to provide increased access to durable goods for those left behind by the established credit industry. Tyler Montrone, who serves as Acima’s Senior Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer and Assistant General Counsel, says the Acima Compliance team focuses on providing solutions that put the customer first, which keeps the program aligned with the company’s business objectives. It’s this commitment that earned the team the prestigious Culture of Compliance award at the annual COMPLY Summit, the largest compliance, risk, and regtech event of its kind, this year held virtually in June.

Montrone praised his team for always working through challenges early in a process rather than appearing at the eleventh hour to unwind weeks of work with draconian edicts.

“A culture of compliance requires that all stakeholders strive for the right result for our customers, our host retailers, and our business in all of our daily interactions,” he adds. “I'm always impressed by how much effort is expended by this organization in pursuit of that simple principle.”

Congratulations again to Jason, Tyler and the entire Acima team. Our collaborative environment enables us to develop the lease to own solutions that unlock shopping power and choice for the tens of millions of underserved consumers without access to traditional financing, while freeing merchants from the challenges of difficult credit and financing costs. 

In fact, we will soon announce two new innovative solutions for the LTO payments space. Follow us on our blog and on LinkedIn for the latest updates.