First FinTech National Network Symposium to take place in Glasgow
The first ever FinTech National Network Symposium, bringing together the various fintech bodies from across the UK, will take place in Glasgow on the 10th of October 2019b hosted by FinTech Scotland.
The symposium is being held at the University of Strathclyde Technology and Innovation Centre which has played a leading global role in developing fintech skills and innovation
The hosting of the symposium in Glasgow further recognises the development of the City as a major global fintech cluster as part of the broader Innovation District development.
The symposium builds on the announcement earlier this year by Innovate Finance, FinTech Scotland and FinTech North to establish the FinTech National Network to foster collaboration between the bodies and provide valuable connections to amplify their collective support for fintech enterprises.
Over recent months the network has expanded to include FinTech Wales, FinTech Northern Ireland and FinTech West.
The Symposium will bring together senior leaders from these fintech bodies, the Financial Conduct Authority, Scottish Development International, UK Department for International Trade, the Treasury and Fintech Alliance come together. They will be joined by leading fintech entrepreneurs.
This first symposium will focus on various key themes including global innovation opportunities, encouraging greater diversity, regulatory landscape as well as the developing of collaboration across the various bodies to support fintech growth and innovation. The meeting will also focus on setting goals for the FinTech National Network so the various bodies can work together to encourage fintech growth and innovation.
The Symposium will be followed in the day by the latest meeting between the various fintech bodies building on the very successful initial meeting and networking event held in June in Manchester hosted by FinTech North. The meeting will be focusing on the rolling programme of activities to support collaborative fintech innovation in all parts of the UK.
Commenting, Stephen Ingledew, CEO of FinTech Scotland said: “It’s a great honour to be hosting the first symposium of the FinTech National Network with the fast growing fintech community in Glasgow. We’re delighted at the prospect of showcasing the great collaboration, innovation and inclusion opportunities offered by our vibrant ecosystem”
Charlotte Crosswell, CEO of Innovate Finance said: “The UK is a world leader in FinTech, but in order to develop and grow further, it is vital that we connect hubs around the country. Innovate Finance is committed to ensuring that innovation in Financial Services is represented across the UK and not just London.”
Chris Sier, HM Treasury FinTech Envoy & Chairman, FinTech North said: “I’m delighted to see the different regional ecosystems around the UK coming together via the FinTech National Network. A collaborative and open approach is the route to success and the national FinTech sector will be stronger thanks to this initiative.”
Sir Jim MacDonald, Principal and Vice Chancellor at the University of Strathclyde said: “Strathclyde University is delighted to host the first ever UK FinTech National Network Symposium at our Technology Innovation Centre, located in the heart of the Glasgow City Innovation District (GCID). Strathclyde is firmly committed to supporting the growth of the FinTech community and Glasgow is very well placed to contribute to the success of the fintech cluster given both the numbers of entrepreneurial FinTech start-ups, access to world-class research and talent, and the growing presence of large global financial services companies who are making significant investments in the city which will bring new technologies, new products, new jobs and economic growth”
Those interesting in attending the symposium can register using this link
Partnership announced between LendingCrowd and ICAS
Scottish fintech LendingCrowd have signed a strategic partnership with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS). The partnership effectively makes LendingCrowd ICAS’s preferred partner in its Business Loans category.
With this partnership ICAS will provide LendingCrowd with a new channel to tell their network of member accountants about alternatives to traditional bank lending and their benefits. In exchange, LendingCrowd will give a special discount on client fees to ICAS members.
The partnership will last for an initial period of three years, until 2022.
Commenting, LendingCrowd founder and CEO Stuart Lunn said: “We are delighted to announce this strategic partnership with ICAS, which brings real opportunities for us all. It is a fantastic platform for us to showcase the benefits of alternatives to traditional bank lending, and for ICAS members to then utilise these benefits. It marks another important step forward in LendingCrowd’s growth story, five years after we launched. We look forward to working closely with ICAS and making this partnership a real success story.”
Commenting, ICAS Chief Executive, Bruce Cartwright CA, said: “We are pleased to have entered into a strategic partnership with LendingCrowd and secured a new, exclusive benefit for our members. Through our partnership, ICAS members’ clients can now claim 25% off LendingCrowd business loan fees. We look forward to working with LendingCrowd over the coming years.”
LendingCrowd crowned Best P2P Business Lender
Edinburgh-based fintech lending platform LendingCrowd has been crowned the UK’s Best P2P Business Lender at the first ever Growth Finance Awards, held in London.
LendingCrowd, which is the only SME lender of its kind headquartered in Scotland, was recognised for its “best-in-class digital platform, transparency, as well as ample resources for both borrowers and lenders”.
Founder and CEO Stuart Lunn said: “To be named Best P2P Business Lender is testament to the significant strides we have made since our launch in 2014. LendingCrowd exists to help alleviate the funding gap facing the UK’s vital community of SMEs, and we’re delighted to have received this recognition at the Growth Finance Awards.”
The award was presented to Stuart and LendingCrowd Chief Marketing Officer Darren Cairns by Simon Bonney, partner at category sponsor Quantuma.
The Growth Finance Awards, organised by Intelligent Partnership and hosted by television presenter Claudia Winkleman, were designed to highlight the role of the finance community in supporting the growth ambitions of SMEs across the UK. More than 300 guests attended the black-tie event, which took place on Wednesday 11 September at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.
Guy Tolhurst, Managing Director of Intelligent Partnership, said: “Just to be recognised as a finalist is a great achievement in itself, but to take home a prize is a truly impressive accolade. I look forward to next year’s event and continuing to educate growing businesses about the wide variety of financial options that are available to them.”
Since its launch in late 2014, LendingCrowd has facilitated more than 740 loans to SMEs across the UK with a total value of £65 million, with more than £15 million of lending in Scotland.
LendingCrowd has also been named as a finalist in the Impact and Investment category of the Scottish Financial Services Awards, organised by Scottish Financial Enterprise and sponsored by EY. The shortlisting is in recognition of the unique £18.75 million funding partnership that LendingCrowd has created with Scottish Investment Bank and Dutch entrepreneurial bank NIBC to fund the ambitions of SMEs across Scotland and the rest of the UK.
Sopra Steria and the University of Edinburgh launch fintech collaboration programme: Chemistry for Financial Services
On August 23rd Sopra Steria and the University of Edinburgh, supported by FinTech Scotland, launched Chemistry for Financial Services, a collaboration programme aimed at encouraging co-creation initiatives between fintech firms, technology providers, academia and established financial service companies.
Companies that have been selected to join the Chemistry programme will be co-creating and taking to market new solutions which address business challenges and improve the financial wellbeing of consumers.
With the launch, the first two challenges have now been released. Both are focused on mortgages, making them more accessible and improving the customer experience for existing mortgage holders.
Applications are now open until September 23rd, 2019. Mid-October, shortlisted applicants will pitch their ideas to a panel of industry experts and Sopra Steria’s clients. Companies selected by the panel, will then join a design sprint at Sopra Steria’s Digilab before presenting the output to multiple clients leading to potential commercial arrangements.
Commenting on the launch Mingaile Vaisnoraite, Customer Experience Consultant at Sopra Steria declared:
“Our Chemistry programme is about working with Start-Ups and SME’s with strong support from FInTech Scotland and Edinburgh University to energise change and create new, innovative solutions. This is a really exciting opportunity where we can re-imagine how financial companies interact with customers and deliver new services and products. There is a wealth of SME and start-up talent in the FinTech sector and with FinTech Scotland and Edinburgh University we want to help them with their ambition to grow, win new business and be successful.”
Dr John Lonsdale, Head of Enterprise at Edinburgh Innovations, University of Edinburgh said:
“We are delighted to be working with Sopra Steria and Fintech Scotland to provide innovation opportunities for emerging Fintech companies. The Chemistry programme contributes towards making Edinburgh the Data Capital of Europe, encouraging company-to-University linkages, and providing opportunities for entrepreneurs to work with leading financial services companies to create innovative solutions for customers.”
To read more and apply for the programme please click here.
Autorek and the Automation Revolution
AutoRek have just announced that they had partnered with Worldwide Business Research (WBR) to generate an industry report. The report will be focusing the state of automation and data management within the financial services sector.
The survey includes feedback from 100 individuals within the operations, IT, business change, finance and data management business functions. They were asked how automation will affect the financial services industry in the next 5-10 years.
Key findings include:
- The majority of those interviewed are implementing blockchain, semantic data management, machine learning and automation
- Respondents think that AI is likely to impact product development and innovation the most.
- 46% of respondents are looking for new technologies to assist data governance.
Investing in the Automation Revolution’ will launch at Sibos London between 23rd”“ 26thSeptember.
Money Dashboard raises £4.6m, the biggest fintech raise on Crowdcube this year
Money Dashboard‘s personal finance management platform that connects to over 70 financial institutions to help users manage all their accounts in one place has just raised £4.6m.
Additionally, existing investors Scottish Investment Bank and Calculus Capital also invested. The initial target was £1.5m, however that number was reached in just 45minutes.
Funds are to be used to build out the market leading personal finance app and triple the company’s Edinburgh-based team from 20 to 60 staff.
Luke Lang, co-founder of Crowdcube, commented:
“Money Dashboard’s vision to help people better manage their money has once again resonated with many of our investors. It’s fantastic to see an innovative business connect their community, fuel their growth and take those investors, in this case, on their journey to create a fairer financial landscape.”
Steve Tigar, CEO said:
“We’re absolutely thrilled to have secured this latest round of funding, particularly with the backing of over 3000 people who share our vision. We are now equipped and ready to help people from every walk of life master their money.”
Kerry Sharp, Director of Scottish Investment Bank said:
“Having supported Money Dashboard from an early stage, it is great to see the business raising the funds required to implement the next stage in its growth. The FinTech sector is a key industry in Scotland’s economy and we look forward to continuing to work with the company, both from an investment perspective and through our account management support, to deliver its long-term growth ambitions.”
Scotland’s fintechs can unlock the power of open banking
There are over one hundred fintech companies thriving in Scotland’s fintech community with a range of new start-ups, existing firms developing their fintech offers and tech-driven firms re-locating north of the border. The launch of open banking last year has played a key role in fuelling the growth of this sector and the UK as a whole is now recognised as a world leader in open banking innovation.
So far, much progress in open banking has been made in the small business environment where innovative products and services are already in the marketplace such as tools for monitoring cash flow and accessing finance. An important contribution to this innovation was the first Open Up Challenge in 2017 and 2018 ”“ spearheaded by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and run independently by Nesta Challenges. The Challenge was part of the CMA’s package of measures introduced to stimulate competition in the financial sector and help small businesses save time and money, find better services, reduce stress and discover the intelligence in their financial data. Winners included fast-growing fintech brands such as Swoop, Funding Options and Coconut whose products are frequently used by freelancers and small businesses across Scotland. However, as important as it is, the small business space is just the start of the open banking revolution.
When we consider the consumer market, while there are products that are already in use it’s fair to say that take-up has not yet been widespread – especially in light of research showing UK consumers stand to gain £12bn a year from open banking-enabled services[i]. Awareness of open banking is still low, with new research from Nesta Challenges showing that 55% of people in Scotland have not heard of it.
On the other hand, 46% of Scottish people say that they want to feel more in control of their finances and 33% want personalised information and guidance to help them manage their finances. For people in Scotland the two biggest benefits of using an open banking enabled product are seen to be: saving money and finding better deals. These findings present big opportunities for those fintech companies and start-ups in Scotland developing open banking-enabled innovations for consumers.
That’s why Nesta Challenges, in partnership with Open Banking Ltd, has launched the Open Up Challenge 2020 – a £1.5m prize fund to encourage fintech innovators to create solutions that will help people to make more of their money.
With Open Up 2020 we want to attract breakthrough innovations designed to support hundreds of thousands of people ”“ particularly the most vulnerable. We’re looking for fintech innovators that can unlock open banking’s potential to change the way that the UK manages its money ”“ especially for the 15.2 million who regularly run out of money each month.
Open banking represents a genuinely new way of empowering people with their data ”“ it is a key milestone on the journey to a digital economy, and the Open Up Challenge has an important part to play in encouraging people to make their data work for them. Open Up 2020 will not only help people better manage their money and take control of their data, but it will also support Scotland’s growing and thriving fintech sector by fast-tracking innovative new products and services. Applications for Open Up 2020 are open until October 2nd2019 and guidance on how to apply can be found at https://openup.challenges.org/apply/. In addition, the Open Up 2020 team will be holding office hours at Codebase, Edinburgh on Thursday 12thSeptember ”“ book your slot hereto benefit from tailored application support from the Open Up Entrepreneur-in-Residence Sarah Tierney.
[i]Consumer Priorities for Open Banking 2019
Scotland Fintech Festival 2019 announced
Scotland’s Fintech Festival will welcome guests from around the world with its focus on new financial innovation and inclusive collaboration opportunities
FinTech Scotland has confirmed the Festival will take place over three weeks in September (between the 9thand the 27th) celebrating the nation’s thriving fintech community and economy.
Building on the huge success of last year’s impromptu community driven Festival, this year’s activities will see over fifty events ranging from meet ups, conferences, networking and social activities.
The events include a number of showcase events such as the FinTech Summit at Dynamic Earth, the FinTech Awards evening and the FinTech Future conference at University of Strathclyde
Other events organised by the community will be up and down the country from Glasgow to Fife, Edinburgh to Dundee, Stirling to Aberdeen and Inverness
Events can be seen on www.scotlandfintechfestival.com
This year will attract a large international delegation with FinTech Scotland working closely with Scottish Development International and the Department for International Trade.
FinTech Scotland was able to announce today that most European fintech hubs will be in attendance, and that delegations from the US and Asia will also attend the festival.
Stephen Ingledew, Chief Executive at FinTech Scotland said: “I am very excited about this year’s Fintech Festival with its global appeal and engagement. We are building on last year when the impromptu festival was born out of real collaboration and inclusion with many participants and organisations coming together to create something very special. This year, even more organisations have put their hands up to participate. This is a real testament to the fact that the fintech scene across the country is vibrant and inclusive, welcoming people and enterprises to Scotland from around the world”
Graham Hatton, Team Leader, Inward Investment at Scottish Development International said: “International interest in Scotland’s Fintech community has never been higher. In the 12 months following last year’s Fintech festival, firms from London, Hong Kong and California have established operations in Scotland to support their growth, attracted largely by a domestic workforce with a deep understanding of Financial Services and expertise in areas including Data and Artificial Intelligence.”
Rory Archibald, Head of Association & Sectors at VisitScotland Business Events said; “We are thrilled to be supporting the fintech community here in Scotland for a 2ndyear to help promote this thriving sector to the world. Fintech Festival is testament to the positive outcomes of collaboration between many organisations. The goals of the fintech sector and indeed the Scottish Government to promote social change, inclusive growth and inward investment can be achieved by bringing people together to realise the news ideas that will drive fintech forward.’
Interview with Revolut – Challenger bank set to disrupt business banking
We spoke with James Gibson, Senior Product Owner at Revolut to speak about how the company is looking at disrupting the business banking sector.
We hear a lot about disruption in banking but that’s very often for consumers, do you expect the same happening to Business Banking?
Consumer experience has always been at the centre of disruption and as long as there are innovations or improvements that can be made to that in any industry – they will continue to be disrupted. Business banking is no different. Rubbish exchange rates, hidden fees and lengthy on-boarding times are issues we’ve already been able to solve and now we’re working on delivering innovative solutions to our business customers.
How would you rate the state of business banking at the moment in terms of experience and offering?
Products and services can always be better. What we can comment on is the surge of start-ups in the space – that just means there’s so much work to be done. Everyone is working to solve fundamental problems and deliver the basic solutions but soon we’ll see start-ups experiment with niche features and thats what will be exciting to watch.
How do you hope to change this at Revolut?
We’ve already impacted thousands of businesses across Europe by helping them with massive savings on exchange rates and avoiding any hidden or confusing fees. We’re now looking at building a one stop shop so that businesses can do almost everything in one place. For example, expense management with even more accounting tools to add to Xero and FreeAgent and even looking into launching acquiring in the near future.
Are there other examples around the world of companies who got it right according to you?
There are a lot of start-ups around the world disrupting industries and changing the way businesses and consumers think about product experiences. Companies like Uber, AirBnB, Apple have customer experience at the core of what they do and that’s a philosophy that we share as well. Of course, it is difficult to pin-point any companies that are doing everything perfectly which is great because it shows that even these established companies recognise the importance of continued progression and disrupting their own processes.
What does the future look like for business banking?
Bright and with lots of Revolut cards! Our vision remains similar to the quest we embarked on 4 years ago: ease of use for clients, automated processes where possible, fair and transparent pricing and technological developments that directly impact the finances of any business in any industry. We’ve done well on all of these points so far but we have much more to do!
What’s the next functionality you’re exciting about pushing to the market?
We’re super excited about the work that we’re doing around acquiring and we’re hopefully going to make some major announcements in the next year. We also listen closely to the feedback of our existing 100k+ businesses clients and it’s clear that UI and even more control over company spending are key topics so we will have some exciting updates on this area soon!
LendingCrowd and Brismo to enter partnership
Scottish fintech LendingCrowd, has just announced a partnership with Brismo to provide detailed and independently verified investment performance metrics.
Brismo provides lending performance data using sophisticated loan information to analyse and verify returns. Investors are able to access like-for-like analysis. This is a fantastic addition to the LendingCrowd platform which will allow investors to compare the performance of the LendingCrowd loan book alongside other fintech lending platforms.
Commenting on the partnership, Mike Allan, Director of Operations, LendingCrowd, said: “We are proud of our track record and believe in enabling transparency so that investors can compare performance across the lending sector. LendingCrowd has made great strides in scaling the business while remaining committed to robust credit processes and responsible lending.”
Rupert Taylor, founder and CEO, Brismo, added: “We are delighted that LendingCrowd is the latest leading platform to join Brismo and we look forward to helping illustrate the company’s impressive track record to investors. LendingCrowd is scaling its operations and diversifying its funding base at an impressive rate, so we are confident that this new partnership is a win-win for all parties.”
Brismo’s platform provides detailed loan book analysis, including loan origination figures, risk bands of borrowers, term and interest rate of outstanding principle and independently verified data on the arrears and default rate. Brismo data on LendingCrowd can be segmented and downloaded easily by investors.