.png)
5 takeaways from our chat with Jason Oakley
19 May 2025
1. Vision over red tape: why purpose still wins in banking
Jason Oakley knows first hand how complex the world of banking can be, especially under the weight of regulation. But for him, a clear, compelling vision isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s the compass that keeps everything aligned. Even in the most regulated environments, purpose-driven leadership, paired with a focused mission, can unlock both innovation and compliance. The message? Vision isn’t sacrificed for structure - it powers it.
2. Old-school wisdom still matters
While Jason is leading the charge in modern banking, he’s quick to champion the enduring lessons of traditional finance. Things like earning customer trust, managing risk responsibly, and staying grounded in ethical practices don’t go out of style. Instead, they form the solid foundation on which the future of banking is built. Adapt, yes - but never abandon what works.
3. Customer relationships are still king
Forget faceless transactions - Jason is all about real relationships. He underscores the need for meaningful engagement and truly listening to what customers want and need. In an industry that can feel distant and transactional, he believes that authentic connection is not just a differentiator - it’s the key to lasting success, and he's trying to bring as much of that into the Afin Bank journey as possible.
4. Listen to the next generation
Great leadership isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about knowing where to find them. Jason advocates for amplifying the voices of younger team members, whose fresh perspectives often hold the key to breakthrough ideas. In all aspects of business, he likes to gather key information from his younger team, understand their needs and always stays open to new ways of thinking.
5. Building a bank from scratch? Expect a rollercoaster!
Starting a challenger bank in a crowded market like the UK isn’t for the faint-hearted -but Jason’s done it. He shares what it really takes: grit, vision, and a willingness to challenge everything you thought you knew. From building a team to navigating regulation, the process is anything but easy, but the reward is the chance to create something truly transformative.
Testimonials
Gathered & Found were able to deliver a great, experienced, culturally right fit for what we were looking for at FreeMarketFX covering a whole range of Service Design, User Experience, Front and Back end Engineers. This enabled us to scale our team capability very quickly, something we would not have been able to do ourselves. The team supplied were heavily motivated and experienced within the Fintech space and have helped deliver some great outcomes. I would definitely recommend the G&F calibration.
Greg Sherwin
CIO & CTO FreeMarketFX
I’ve been partnering with Gathered & Found while working for several companies now and I have systematically been impressed by their responsiveness, flexibility, overall ease to work with, forward thinking and the consistent level of their engineers and consultants. It has been a real pleasure working with them over the last years.
Nicholas Goubert
CPTO, Ocean Technologies Group
Gathered & Found have completely changed how we approach delivering our most critical projects. We usually have to wait 6 weeks for skilled engineers and delivery managers, but with G&F that timeframe has been turned on its head. Not only do they provide incredible consultants that deliver great work, but they find great culture-fits and their team understand exactly what we need for each engagement.
Engineering Director
Global Insurance Firm
As Founders who have never built a mobile app before, Gathered & Found were incredible at taking us through the entire process and making it very understandable from the outset. They supported us with complete app design, user experience and app development, and delivered an incredible product that will completely change our loyalty and rewards capability. Their Engagement team were also brilliant at keeping us updated with all developments and we honestly couldn’t be happier with the final product. We highly recommend them to any F&B or Retail businesses that need a supportive and amazing tech partner.
Tom Stock
Founder, Burger & Beyond
We brought in Gathered & Found for a critical engagement that required highly talented engineers. Our previous consulting partners had done a decent job, but were struggling with the complexity of delivering the initiative at scale in a regulated environment. The G&F squad that we received was extremely high bar and allowed us to keep in-line with our roadmap and ultimately delivered a great piece of work ahead of schedule and under budget. We are very pleased to have them as part of our wider partner team
Investment Bank
CIO
Gathered & Found have consistently exceeded our expectations with regards to delivering talented consultants that genuinely understand our business and mission. Their consultants are very well versed in our way of doing things and hit the ground running straight away. They have enabled us to deliver a number of high priority projects over the past 3 years, largely due to their ability to rapidly deploy great consultants into our teams and projects extremely quickly
Global Insurance Firm
Transformation Director
