Beyond box-ticking: Why Happy Prime backs Women in Credit Risk & Collections

At Happy Prime, our support for Women in Credit Risk & Collections goes far beyond corporate social responsibility box-ticking. It’s about recognising a fundamental truth in our industry: diverse thinking leads to better risk management.

The credit risk landscape across New Zealand and Australia has traditionally been dominated by

homogeneous thinking. When we look at executive leadership in major financial institutions, we still

see a significant gender imbalance despite some progress in recent years. This isn’t just an equality

issue – it’s a performance issue.

Why diversity matters in credit risk

Credit risk management isn’t purely mathematical. The best risk frameworks balance statistical models with nuanced human judgment. That’s precisely where diversity becomes crucial.

Research consistently shows that diverse teams make better decisions. They consider broader

perspectives, identify blind spots more effectively, and generally avoid the groupthink that leads to

risk oversight. In an industry where missing emerging risks can cost millions, we simply can’t afford

monoculture in our thinking.

Women bring different lived experiences and often different approaches to risk assessment. The

best risk decisions happen when various perspectives challenge each other in constructive ways.

When everyone in the room shares similar backgrounds and thought patterns, critical questions

might never get asked.

The New Zealand and Australia context

Our local financial services industry faces unique challenges that make diversity even more

important. With concentrated banking markets and similar business models across major

institutions, there’s already a natural tendency toward uniform thinking.

Regional economic challenges – from housing affordability to small business lending needs – require

innovative approaches. We’ve seen how legacy thinking failed to address these issues adequately.

Fresh perspectives from diverse leadership can help create more responsive, nuanced risk frameworks.

The numbers don’t lie. Despite making up roughly half the workforce in financial services, women

remain significantly underrepresented in credit risk leadership roles across both New Zealand and

Australia. This representation gap means we’re not accessing all available talent and thinking.

Why Happy Prime is committed

Our support for Women in Credit Risk & Collections aligns perfectly with our core business

philosophy: better risk management through smarter, more innovative approaches.

We’re not just sponsoring an event – we’re investing in an industry transformation that will benefit

everyone. More women in credit risk leadership means more robust risk frameworks, better

customer outcomes, and ultimately stronger financial institutions.

At Happy Prime, we’ve seen firsthand how diverse teams generate superior solutions for our clients.

The most valuable insights often come from the intersection of different perspectives – where

quantitative analysis meets behavioural understanding, where regulatory knowledge meets

customer empathy.

Supporting women in the industry isn’t about favoring one group over another. It’s about ensuring

we’re drawing from the deepest possible talent pool and the widest range of thinking styles. In a

function as critical as credit risk, anything less means accepting unnecessary limitations on our

collective capabilities.

Moving forward together

Events and networks that support women in credit risk create essential pathways for professional

development and visibility. They provide platforms for sharing ideas that might otherwise go unheard. They build confidence and create role models for the next generation of risk professionals.

Happy Prime’s commitment to supporting Women in Credit Risk & Collections reflects our belief that the future of our industry depends on embracing diverse thinking at every level. We’re proud to back initiatives that strengthen our industry’s talent pipeline and ultimately lead to more innovative, effective approaches to credit risk management.

In an environment of rapidly evolving consumer behavior, new data sources, and emerging risks,

diversity isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s a competitive necessity. That’s why we’re all in.