The Credit Awards, hosted by Credit Strategy during Credit Week, celebrate innovation and best practice across the credit and financial services industry.

This year’s awards saw strong competition across 30 categories, with entries showcasing the highest standards of achievement across the sector.

With more than 50 years’ experience supporting some of the UK’s leading retailers, BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK has established itself as a responsible lender focused on helping customers access flexible finance.

The organisation’s purpose is to “bring fairness and flexibility to how people budget for life’s big purchases” enabling millions of customers to turn purchases into affordable, manageable instalments.

A key contributor to BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK’s sustained growth is its commitment to responsible lending.

This commitment has driven the development of solutions that move beyond traditional approaches, using rich data sources to make smarter decisions and improve financial inclusion when assessing risk.

At this year’s Credit Awards, BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK won Credit Risk Team of the Year, with the team recognised for the demonstrable impact they have delivered through a bold transformation programme spanning people, data, technology and performance.

The team’s focus on developing a “best-in-class” credit risk function, alongside continued investment in data and advanced analytics, has resulted in a high-performing credit solution delivered by a team exceeding targets across the board.

BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK was also recognised with the Excellence in Credit Risk Modelling award.

This behind-the-scenes collection of processes enables the organisation to support more than 4.3 million customers through its flexible finance solution, Creation Flex, and contributes to 88% of its Trustpilot reviews receiving five stars.

To support its growing customer base - welcoming a new customer every 22 seconds BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK has invested in machine learning and explainable AI to improve decision accuracy, strengthen financial inclusion and align with responsible lending objectives.

This includes the implementation of tools such as PRAISE (Policy Rule AI Strategy Engine) and AI FLARE (Fraud Learning Adaptive Rules Engine), which were designed to enhance existing processes and enable safer, fairer and higher-performing credit decisions.

Through the use of machine learning, explainable AI and data-driven risk evaluation, BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK has demonstrated how advanced analytics can support smarter decision-making, enabling responsible and sustainable growth while promoting fairness and financial wellbeing for customers.

Stephen Hunt, chief executive officer at BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK, said: “We’re delighted to have won both the Excellence in Credit Risk Modelling and Credit Risk Team of the Year awards at this year’s Credit Awards.

“Both awards reflect the same focus: helping customers access credit in a way that’s fair, flexible and transparent.

“We’ve continued to challenge the market and develop solutions that help customers budget for larger purchases through simple, affordable instalments, with no surprises.

“Behind the scenes, our teams have worked hard to improve how we assess applications, using advanced analytics and explainable AI to make better-informed decisions while keeping them clear, consistent and well-governed.

“These awards reflect the hard work and commitment of our teams and partners, who are constantly looking for ways to deliver a better experience for customers.

“Most importantly, they’re a reminder of the trust our customers place in us every day, and we’re proud to serve them.”

At this year’s Credit Awards, BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK was also shortlisted for Best Consumer Credit Product and Best Outsourcing & Partnership Initiative for its work with Concentrix.

The awards were highly competitive, reflecting the strength and innovation across the financial services industry.

Looking ahead, BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK is well positioned for continued growth, supported by award-winning credit solutions and strong business partnerships.