Alliance combines best-in-class banking tech with best-in-class climate tech to deliver complete view on climate risks associated with the Atom bank mortgage book
Atom bank has today announced a major new partnership with climate tech business Kamma. Atom will benefit from access to Kamma’s full climate suite, offering an unparalleled view on both the physical and transition risks of its mortgage book. Kamma will further provide analytics on Atom’s financed emissions, improved PCAF scoring, and climate credentials on pools of assets for the purposes of securitisation.
Climate-related disasters continue to create misery and loss of life and livelihoods on every continent. Customers, investors and regulators are all waking up to the need for banks to understand what their lending is doing to the climate and be in a position to support a rapid and fair transition to net zero. Alongside new reporting and disclosure requirements for banks and large listed businesses, the government’s legislative pipeline must eventually, but inevitably, contain substantial new regulations and risks for mortgage lenders. Greening the UK’s property stock is critical to driving down costs for households and reducing harmful emissions. Kamma’s solutions will provide clear guidance supporting risk management, regulatory reporting and green asset qualification.
Atom has pledged to become a carbon positive bank by 2035. The bank’s digital, cloud-native business model is intrinsically more efficient and less impactful on the environment than traditional banking models, while its chosen premises and policy for selection of suppliers aims to further help to reduce emissions. The next step for Atom is to address financed emissions, which will include using advanced analytics to help the bank and its customers reduce their carbon footprint. Phase one of the partnership involves a deep review of the mortgage portfolio and strategic support from the Kamma team. Phase two will see the development of new propositions, products and customer journeys that deliver this new strategy.
Kamma has developed the UK’s most advanced view on the climate profile of UK property. This includes substantial modelling and high-grade address matching to close data gaps, data integration and calibration to improve accuracy, and unique analytics that chart a course to net zero for UK property.
Commenting on the partnership Edward Twiddy, Director of ESG at Atom bank said: “Banks have a crucial role to play in solving the climate challenge. Too much lending has been done by banks that has not taken account of the impact we are having on the climate, and it is important that this is changing. As a digital bank, we will use the best technology available to ensure we accurately measure emissions, understand risk and then help our customers to reduce their bills, increase the value of their property and be ready for a zero carbon future.
“The damage we have already done is clear, and we do not see any reason to delay action when the evidence and imperative for change is in front of us. I’m delighted that we are partnering with Kamma to benchmark our emissions, manage our risks and most importantly, to provide practical ways for Atom and our customers to face into the future.”
Kamma CEO, Orla Shields, added: “Our strategy is to partner with market leaders in order to support the development of bleeding edge propositions and light a pathway to net zero for other organisations. We’re hugely excited about the opportunity to partner with Atom Bank on their climate journey”.
About Atom bank
Atom bank is the UK’s first app-based bank, on a mission to make the experience of borrowing and saving faster, simpler and better value than anyone else.
The bank launched operations in April 2016, and offers award-winning mortgages and savings through its app, alongside secured business lending for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Based in the North East of England with a team of over 500 people, Atom is here to change banking for the good, for the better, and for everyone. This means focusing on customers’ needs, delivering better value than the incumbents, providing an exceptional app-based experience and offering award-winning customer support via phone, chat, email and social channels. The bank has some of the best customer service credentials in the UK, having achieved 5-star ratings on both the iOS and Android App Stores, and on Trustpilot, whilst consistently delivering Net Promoter Scores (NPS) in the high 80s.
Based in Durham, Atom is an engaged and active member of the North East Community. In 2022 Atom signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding with Durham University to progress key research and diversity initiatives. The region has one of the highest levels of youth unemployment in the UK and Atom is passionate about addressing the critical digital skills gap and helping develop young people and other groups that are under-represented within the industry.
As of November 2021, all employees enjoy a four-day working week, after Atom became the largest company – and only bank – in Britain to introduce the policy for all employees, with no reduction in salary.
The Atom executive team are highly experienced, having built and run some of the most well-respected banks in the UK. CEO Mark Mullen has 30 years’ experience in the sector and was previously CEO at the multi- award-winning telephone and internet bank first direct. The team is supported by a strong non-exec board, chaired by Lee Rochford.
About Kamma
Kamma is a world-leading geospatial technology company based in the UK. It specialises in creating unique data and solutions from disparate information for the property and financial sectors. Kamma works with organisations throughout the real estate value chain, providing unique data that wins new instructions, creates new revenue streams, and slashes the operational cost of compliance.
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