Barney GoodmanB.Barney Goodman
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Barney Goodman
Barney Goodman

01 · About

Less distance between the decision and the delivery.

I’m Barney Goodman, Change and Technology Director at Shermin Finance. Two decades in UK financial services have taken me through product strategy, digital transformation, operations, commercial and leadership roles. Currently CTO at Shermin Finance, a HomeServe Group business.

I’m AI first and an early adopter. I was one of the first UK financial services professionals to be 6x Anthropic Claude certified. I don’t just lead teams that build. I build and deliver products end to end myself.

Away from the desk I shoot 35mm film. My photography has its own page here.

02

Experience

  1. Product Owner and CTO for Stax, a proprietary loan origination platform connecting UK lenders with 250+ FCA regulated retailers. AI first, agentic engineering approach to product development and operations, personally building and shipping platform features, MVPs and automation using Claude and multi model agentic solutions. Scaled the platform from zero to £400M loan originations in 12 months.

    • ✓Delivered the Stax platform to £400M loan originations in the first 12 months, compressing product development cycles from weeks to days through AI accelerated iteration and prototyping
    • ✓Designed and shipped a waterfall decisioning model, increasing overall approval rates by 15% while maintaining lender targets and FCA compliance
    • ✓Personally build and maintain platform features, reporting tools and automation in Salesforce LWC, operating at founder pace within a corporate environment using agentic engineering as a force multiplier
    • ✓Own the data strategy and platform analytics, using AI to identify lender behaviour patterns and routing inefficiencies that drive roadmap prioritisation
    • ✓Lead technology and operations transformation across cross functional teams, scaling from pilot to full regulatory operation

    See the build→

  2. Led stabilisation, optimisation and transformation to position the company for acquisition by HomeServe (Brookfield).

    • ✓Positioned the company for a successful acquisition; served as key liaison during integration
    • ✓Led the company rebrand and developed the long term strategic roadmap
    • ✓Built a custom CRM and an automated retailer training platform
    • ✓Optimised operational workflows, reducing costs and increasing profitability
  3. Founding team member. Defined product strategy, built the sales function and secured lending partnerships.

    • ✓Scaled a B2B2C fintech startup to £15M ARR within 12 months
    • ✓Defined the initial product offering aligned with regulatory standards
    • ✓Built and managed a high performing sales team; exceeded KPIs consistently
    • ✓Secured strategic lending partnerships expanding market reach
  4. Managed £30M+ in annual finance applications representing 65% of company turnover. Directly managed 4 Regional and 26 Branch Managers, ensuring FCA compliance and enhancing lender relationships.

  5. Achieved 300% growth in credit volume through strategic consumer credit initiatives. Established a reputation as an industry expert in consumer credit regulation and strategy, building an enterprise retail partner network.

  6. Managed 400+ high net worth client relationships. Grew credit balances by £150M and debt balances by £90M. Implemented a mortgage training strategy achieving a 90% increase in referrals.

  7. Bridgebank Capital, Head of Business Development & Strategy (2006 to 2009): built the loan book from £0 to £250M in three years. Catalyst Securities, Business Development & Strategy (2003 to 2006): expanded the introducer network to 3,000+ partners and grew the loan book to £156M.

Core competencies

  • AI First Product Development
  • Multi Model AI Implementation
  • Platform & Product Strategy
  • Loan Origination & Decisioning
  • Consumer Credit & FCA Regulation
  • Hands On Technical Leadership
  • B2B2C Fintech
  • Salesforce LWC (Experience Cloud)
  • Data Driven Decision Making
  • Digital Transformation
  • Operational Leadership
  • Stakeholder Management
  • Cross Functional Team Leadership
  • Strategic Roadmapping

03

Selected work

  • Stax · Shermin · 2026

    Bespoke CRM

    A bespoke CRM on a fork of Twenty so BDMs and Sales Support never need to open Salesforce, with a two-pipeline kanban, prescriptive per-stage tasks and write-through on stage transition.

  • Shermin · 2026

    Training Platform (LMS)

    An FCA-compliant, multi-tenant training platform for the retailer panel and its learners, audit-evidence-grade and in production, with a full machine API for partner integration.

  • Personal project · 2026

    Lending Agent suite

    An exploration of an AI-mediated, FCA-aligned consumer credit journey end to end, with plain-English steps, structured disclosures, a sequential lender waterfall and a replayable audit log.

  • Reporting · AI · 2026

    Automated Reporting

    A Salesforce-driven reporting framework producing four scheduled streams, from the monthly board pack to the weekly commercial dashboard, with AI-generated commentary. Designed and built end to end.

All work→

04

Blog

  • 16 Mar 20265 min read

    The FCA hasn't told us what to do about AI customer communications. Here's what I think the rules should be.

    Firms are already using AI to draft and send customer communications in regulated financial services. The FCA has not issued specific guidance. Here is what I think it should say.

  • 12 Mar 20266 min read

    What Onboarding 600+ Retailers to a Loan Originations Platform Actually Taught Me

    Six hundred retailers, five lenders, one platform. The lessons from building an onboarding process at scale are not what you might expect. Most of them have nothing to do with technology.

  • 5 Mar 20266 min read

    Scaling a Broker Platform: What Actually Breaks When You Grow Fast

    Rapid growth exposes every assumption you made when building your platform. Here is what actually breaks when a broker platform scales, and what you need to have in place before it does.

All posts→

05

Daily digest

A running log of what’s moving in fintech and AI, with my notes.

  • 12 Jun 20262 notes

    AI Writes the Code, Formal Methods Check the Maths

    From TLDR Tech.

    agentic · AI agents · AI

  • 11 Jun 20262 notes

    Agentic AI Security Is a Credit Risk Problem

    From TLDR Tech.

    agentic · AI agents · AI

  • 8 Jun 20264 notes

    Your Data Moat Matters More Than Your Model

    From TLDR Tech.

    fintech · underwriting · AI

Full digest→

06

Qualifications

Six Anthropic certifications, completed in 2026.

  • Claude Agent Skills

    Anthropic · Issued Mar 2026 · ID G457WD6KIWM8

  • Claude, Model Context Protocol (MCP)

    Anthropic · Issued Mar 2026 · ID VGJP5X3CCVQH

  • Building with the Claude API

    Anthropic · Issued Mar 2026 · ID 9C7XTAK3A78F

  • Anthropic Claude, AI Fluency Framework & Foundations

    Anthropic · Issued Mar 2026 · ID QJKBXY8FOSOD

  • Anthropic Claude Model Context Protocol (MCP): Advanced Topics

    Anthropic · Issued Mar 2026 · ID PHWFIFITYSMK

  • Certificate of Completion: Claude 101

    Anthropic · Issued Mar 2026 · ID JQRPUAT8EVU7

  • Certificate in Digital Banking

    City and Guilds · Issued Jan 2014

  • Certificate in Retail Banking

    City and Guilds · Issued Jan 2014

  • Elite Relationship Management

    City and Guilds · Issued Jan 2010

07

Contact

The fastest way to reach me is email.

  • Emailbarney@barneygoodman.co.uk
  • LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/barneygoodman
Barney Goodman
barney@barneygoodman.co.uk

© 2026 Barney Goodman