Who we are and how we work

Our culture is our most important asset. It allows us to move quickly with a high default level of trust and autonomy.

We are explicit about our culture, because culture happens whether it is explicit or not. We want the culture we chose rather than the one we ended up with.

We safeguard our culture by being transparent, hiring the right people, and maintaining policies and frameworks that make clear what we won't tolerate.

Core values

Our core values are what we look for in our people.

Our core values are descriptive, not aspirational. They describe us as we are, not as we would like to be. We won't work with people who don't embody our core values, even if they are a great fit in every other way.

Be deserving of trust

We measure ourselves against the highest standard of conduct.

Banks are heavily regulated for good reason: we're responsible for keeping our customers' money safe. We take this obligation seriously, obeying the letter and the spirit of the law as well as going above and beyond to protect our customers.

We have an active and transparent relationship with our regulators. As individuals, we aim to do the right thing the first time, and we always speak up if we think something is amiss.

Thoughtfulness

We take our time.

We believe in planning things out before we start to build. We solicit feedback. We weigh different approaches. We look at all the outcomes before we make our move.

We're not shipping a hackathon project, we're laying the foundations for the future of global financial infrastructure. It's okay if it takes a bit longer to get things up and running.

This doesn't mean we move slowly. It means we move deliberately.

Kindness and empathy

We assume the best of each other.

We choose words and actions that communicate our consideration, kindness and empathy. We don't assume that our positive intentions will be communicated by default – instead, we work to make them felt in everything we do and say.

We express gratitude when things go well. We offer support when things go wrong. We look for context and rationale instead of assuming ignorance or bad faith.

Resilience

We don't give up easily.

Building a bank is hard. It is going to take time, and it won't always be fun. There are going to be pitfalls and mistakes along the way. We will have critics and detractors.

If we're not resilient, we won't make it. So, we are patient with ourselves and each other. We learn from our mistakes, and we believe in ourselves. We get up and try again every time.

Core behaviours

Our core behaviours are how we work as a company. They are the philosophies that underpin how we build our products and operate on day-to-day basis. Our core behaviours are not descriptive – for instance, we don't expect you to already have a “security first” mindset when you join Griffin. But we do expect you to absorb and adopt these behaviours while you work here.

Simple made easy

Reduce complexity where possible.

There is a lot about banking infrastructure that is inherently complex. For the most part, our customers don't want to have to deal with that complexity. Our approach is always to clarify and simplify.

We look for places where needless complexity can be encapsulated. We then wrap those encapsulations in simple interfaces.

Security first

Everyone's not out to get us, but some people are.

As a bank, we will be a target for hackers and fraudsters. Everything we build needs to be built with security in mind - for the customer, for the end user and for ourselves.

Security should never be “someone else's job”. While we do have full-time security experts, everyone who works here is expected to be able to think from a security perspective.

Transparent

Open by default.

We believe that high-functioning people are deeply driven by purpose and autonomy. But, as a company, people can only function effectively under autonomy if they have context. That's why our leadership shares as much as possible about everything that happens here – from our financial position to major strategic decisions.

We also believe that companies can move faster when individual teams are talking to each other on a regular basis. We place a heavy emphasis on writing and we encourage all our teams to get into the habit of publishing their work across the whole company.

We are clear and succinct in how we write. We don't obfuscate with jargon or elide responsibility with the passive voice. Anyone should be able to pick up a Griffin document and understand what it says.