Scotland, Ireland and fintech ”“ the importance of working together
This blog has been written by David Clarke, Policy Director and Founder at Scottish-Irish Finance Initiative.
Fintech is a strategically important industry and can contribute hugely to the development of our native industrial and business environment. Most promising is the development of new companies and most importantly new high value jobs. It is also vital to remember that fintech can be a disrupter and can, and should, create efficiencies that may make some existing roles redundant. With this in mind it’s very important to create the right public policy for the development of the sector.
In order to ensure that the balance of new roles and specialisations works in our favour we need to be certain that we have first mover advantage and scale. The Scottish Government has quite rightly taken a proactive step in encouraging the growth of fintech, most notably with the establishment of Fintech Scotland, to coordinate the activities of the policy makers and the industry to ensure we take maximum advantage at this pivotal growth time for the sector.
But why stop at Scotland’s borders? Those of us that support the Scottish Irish Finance Initiative (our raison d’être couldn’t be more clear ”“ to encourage job and industry growth through cooperation) believe there are huge advantages from sharing expertise and effectively doubling the industry hinterland by encouraging the fintech sectors in both locations to work more closely together.
The combination of expertise, which can be led by both universities and businesses, can of itself helps spawn the development of new technologies and new solutions. We are also strongly of the opinion that by businesses looking further afield (but not that far ”“ a 40 minute flight that’s shorter and easier than any trip down to London!) they can tap potential clients and resources that otherwise would not be available.
Ireland’s existing expertise as one of Europe’s top two fund administration and servicing centres, home to many of the world’s largest banks and financial institutions, offers a wealth of opportunity for Scottish fintech companies. Likewise the significant fund management and administration in Scotland extends the potential for Irish businesses.
And at a time when others are putting up trade borders, we reckon that this kind of cooperation sends out a very positive message to the rest of the world and to the large financial institutions that we need to engage with in order to grow our domestic industries.
Artificial Intelligence and Professional Expertise
Accountancy, law, insurance”¦ these professions usually conjure images of spreadsheets, glass and steel offices, jargon-filled sentences, square eyes and grey suits. Perhaps this is part of the reason why we willingly pay high fees for such services: passing the burden to highly intelligent individuals who will perform those laborious tasks for us. But all this might be about to change.
It’s not about replacement
Machine learning and artificial intelligence solutions are already better at performing many tasks than the professionals: beating human lawyers in reviewing contracts and predicting the outcomes of legal cases[1].
But it is not about replacing lawyers, accountants and insurance managers with machines. Instead, it is about building data solutions that enrich their practice: automating repetitive tasks to free up time for strategic thinking and managing the client relationship; lowering costs to offer services to a wider audience, including legal help for those who most need it; improving detection of insurance fraud to lower premiums for all; accessing and using data to deliver a better more personalised service.
The potential for AI in professional services is clearly considerable: for those who use and depend upon them, and those working in these industries.
The UK in a great position
Furthermore, the UK is in the perfect position to make it happen. With its world-leading centres of AI research, it has been described as first in the world for AI readiness’[2]. It also has a justifiably renowned heritage in providing professional services, with the biggest legal and insurance sectors in Europe, and ranked as the leading exporter of financial and related professional services across the world in 2017.
Those working in the industry must play a central role in the development of these new technologies for them to succeed. They are the knowledge domain experts who are indispensable in designing the machines of the future: framing the challenges, producing data requirements, identifying potential risks and articulating the social and ethical issues.
As Professor Richard Susskind, author of the Future of the Professions says:
“Professionals should become directly involved in the development of the systems that handle and deliver practical expertise.”
A need for increased collaboration
A collaborative approach between professionals, academic researchers and technologists across the professional services industry will ensure that the solutions are best in class from a technical, user and social perspective.
It is such an approach that is being encouraged by the forthcoming £20m Next Generation Services Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). The challenge is set to support the development of data and AI solutions in the sectors of accountancy, legal and insurance services. It will include an initial CR&D call of up to £12m and an initial Research Programme call of up to £3m.
Fortnightly FinTech Fuse ”“ Collaboration, the Fintech Fuel”¦
This last two weeks has further shown me how collaboration across a range of people and organisations is helping to fuel a vibrant and growing fintech environment in Scotland
Excitingly, this collaboration goes well beyond the traditional boundaries of financial services and embraces a diversity of people who share a common purpose in driving progressive change.
For example, the opportunity to share my thoughts at the recent Digital Cities event, expertly organised by FutureScot, was ideal in highlighting how fintech innovation can support public sector digital objectives.
This conversation continued when I met up with the brilliant Alexander Holt to talk about the very successful CivTech initiative, with stage three of the programme about to be announced in early June.
We both share a strong view that collaboration provides a real opportunity for fintech enterprises to further develop financial services and public sector innovation by working in unison focused on good social outcomes.
City Collaboration
Innovative collaboration also requires active engagement with a broad range of stakeholders across our cities and it was good to talk through data driven innovation ideas with Liz Mcareavey at the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce a few days ago.
This citywide collaboration was also very much in evident in the discussions at the University of Glasgow and Chamber of Commerce event on Wednesday on the ambitious plans for the Innovation District’ over the next few years.
Such collaborative partnership between public, private and the academic sector will provide further impetus for the City being a major innovation hub and I look forward to exploring further how fintech enterprises can participate in this significant development.
Last week, I enjoyed the conversation with Mark Napier of JP Morgan on how City wide fintech collaboration can drive innovation as well as progress our mutual inclusion and diversity objectives. I’m looking forward to sharing more at the Glasgow Economic Leadership financial services meeting next month.
The collaboration fuel’ was also very much in evident when I caught up with Professor Jim Macdonald, Adrian Gillespie and Tim Bedford of Strathclyde University as we explored how fintech could embrace opportunities of working within their world leading Technology and Innovation Centre in Glasgow City centre.
Very excited about the opportunity of fintech playing a key role in enabling this citywide collaboration with Scotland’s world leading universities playing a central role and working with international thought leaders such as Danial Broby, who shared with me the latest thoughts on blockchain.
Talking with Maggie Craig and Alan Drainer at the Financial Conduct Authority this week, the opportunity to build even closer collaboration with the regulator as we develop the university led citywide initiatives will further enhance the innovation environments we can create in Scotland.
Creative Collaboration
Making collaboration work in practice requires creative and courageous interaction and this was certainly brought alive to me when meeting with John McHugh and `Alison McHugh of Gigly at the end of the day in Glasgow on Wednesday.
Their businesses Gigly and Adlantic are such amazing enterprises, focused on creatively addressing people’s financial needs through proactive collaboration and it was a privilege to hear the wisdom and passion of two such inspiring leadership role models.
Hugely motivating, massive thank you John and Alison for bringing alive how fintech is making a difference (and for the tips on being a better swimmer!)
My meeting last week at Codebase in Edinburgh with the engaging Trish McClay, Simon Lewis, Graham Cambridge, the Barclays team working with fintech people, was all about creative collaboration in action with great new firms such as Mark for Market. Thanks Andy Cunningham for arranging such a super session.
The role of creative collaboration in a highly regulated sector such as financial services is key to unlocking the opportunities going forward and I shared some thoughts on this with the annual gathering of the Group Internal Audit team at RBS.
Very much appreciated the engagement from the session and thanks to Martin Ambrose for inviting me to share how risk management, audit and fintech innovation can positively work together in a collaborative environment.
Creative collaboration also very much applies to the subject of cyber security and it was valuable to have distinguished guests at the joint Cyber Scotland and FinTech Scotland dinner on Thursday evening.
Cyber and fintech are areas where Scotland has the potential to excel and it a terrific roundtable conversation with Minister Derek MacKay and a cross section of investor community on how we can maximize the opportunity. Thank you to the fabulous Evelyn Walker and Martin Beaton as well as BTO for organising a splendid evening with an abundance of collaboration spirit and ambition.
Working with our recently announced strategic partners, Deloitte, Pinsent Masons, Dentsu Aegis and Sopra Steria, we are looking forward to progressing a number of other strategic fintech themes that Scotland can showcase around the world through global collaboration.
In this respect, I am very fortunate to be mentored by Promilla Caughey, who provides such fresh insightful counsel on navigating the international opportunities and global contacts in this changing world. Great to see you again this week Promilla and thank you for joining me on my meeting engagements in Glasgow.
Global Collaboration
Global collaboration has always been a key objective of FinTech Scotland and so it was great to be invited by SDI colleagues Racquel Largo Martinez and Laurent Melin to join a presentation in Barcleona for senior people from the banking community.
There was much interest in how we are developing Scotland’s fintech ecosystem. albeit, my participation was via Skype as much as I would have loved a visit to the beautiful European city at this time of year!
The presentation highlighted to me once again how the fintech community in Scotland is very much taking a leadership role when it comes to Scotland wide and global collaboration.
Further reinforced by Mickael and Graham Hatton of SDI, who did a fabulous job along with the engaging Myles Stephenson of fintech firm Modulr in sharing with a big London audience at Scotland House on how we are making a mark in the global fintech scene.
This is also very much the thinking behind the Open Banking Centre of Excellence developments and it was good to agree some constructive steps on how to progress with Gavin Littlejohn and Kevin Collins, from the University of Edinburgh Data Innovation Programme last week.
The recent announcement by Phil Grady and Martin Leonard at the brilliant Castlight Financial on their collaboration with global banking player HSBC is a really great example of the valuable work being driven forward by Scotland’s fintech enterprises and leaders. Fantastic news.
Of course, the global collaboration goes beyond open banking and a terrific example last week was the University of Edinburgh Business School event on Social Finance and Finance Technology.
I was delighted to share thoughts on how fintech in Scotland can contribute to the broader social finance agenda along with some excellent speakers from around the world.
Well done to Marcel Lukas, Augosto Rocha and Arman Eshraghi for a very innovative and collaborative event, possibly the first of its kind in the world, again Scotland leading the way.
Of course, my fortnightly blog can only skim the surface of the scale of fintech activity taking place across Scotland. Therefore, I delighted to see the comprehensive fintech supplement from Scotsman newspaper appear this week bringing alive the unique opportunity we have to make a difference in Scotland and globally
Very much appreciate the work by David Lee and Ian Davey in bringing alive Scotland’s fintech opportunities and community. Another brilliant example of the value in engaging collaboration.
Marathon Collaboration
As my mind turns to my marathon in Edinburgh this weekend, it strikes me how my running success is also dependent upon great community collaboration.
Yes, running is very much an individual sporting activity focused on physical and mental endurance but the ability to successfully complete the 26.2 miles also relies on the extensive collaboration of the race organisers, fabulous volunteers, sponsors, cheering supporters, fellow runners and, of course, family
For me, a marathon is as much about an inclusive community and collective collaboration as it is about personal endeavour and performance. This is also so true of what we are trying to achieve with fintech in Scotland.
Give me a fintech cheer’ if you are out and about on Sunday morning and see me as I join the many thousands of runners enjoying every minute of this super Edinburgh marathon race, it may just be the extra bit of encouragement I need at that point!
Until next time.
Help for FinTech SMEs to attract more women and address the skills gap
The FinTech sector in Scotland and across the world is growing rapidly as is the demand for new staff to fuel this growth. In the wider digital technologies sector in Scotland, 12,800 vacancies arise every year and many businesses struggle to fill these roles.
Despite this evident skills gap, the proportion of women in digitally focused roles is only 18% as opposed to 48% in the workforce as a whole and 39% in other skilled occupations. There is an enormous opportunity to meet many of the industry’s skills needs by closing the technology gender gap.
The need for diversity
In addition to addressing the growing skills gap, there are robust business, legal and moral cases for improving gender diversity in companies. We know that where there are greater levels of diversity, companies experience greater returns on investment, equity and sales. Women’s equal participation in STEM is estimated to be worth £170 million to the Scottish economy annually.
Over the last few years, an increasing number of companies have started taking action and working in partnership with education institutions and the skills agencies to attract and retain more women to the digital technologies sector. This is reflected in the results of the recent Scottish Technology Industry Survey 2018, conducted by ScotlandIS, which showed that more than 68% of respondents have already taken action to address the technology gender gap.
A new workplace
The most commonly taken step to attract more women is to offer flexible working patterns that are compatible with child care commitments. 55% have tried this measure and found that it helps and only 6% of respondents are unlikely to try it.
Around a quarter of responding companies provide female role models for engagement with schools and universities and/or support initiatives like Scotland Women in Technology (SWiT) or Girl Geeks.
The least used measure is the provision of return-to-work training for women after a career break (15%) even though 71% of respondents would consider this step.
A question of size?
However, the figures also reveal that large businesses (more than 500 employees) were more likely than small and medium companies to have successfully implemented any of the measures mentioned above.
SMEs often report that they struggle to develop more inclusive workplaces policies and practices due to a lack of time, resources, access to expertise and awareness of effective practices.
The engendering STEM project
The ENGENDERING STEM project has been set up to help SMEs in FinTech and other sectors that recruit for technical/STEM roles to overcome these barriers. City of Glasgow College, Equate Scotland and partners from the Netherlands and the Basque Country in Spain are working together to develop an evidence based self-assessment toolkit, best practice guides and blended learning training solutions. The project is funded by the Erasmus+ programme.
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Get Advice and Support – We will work with you to provide tailored recommendations and support to improve the gender balance in your business ”“ all you have to do is complete our free online self-assessment tool.
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Give Your Views – What are your views on getting more women into Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM)? Fill in our anonymous survey here
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Share Best Practice – Do you have a success story to share? ENGENDERING STEM can promote this to a European audience in our series of best practice guides. Share your case study with us here
Fortnightly FinTech Fuse ”“ 100 Days and Counting”¦
Well, that’s nearly one hundred days in the role heading up FinTech Scotland since the start of the year.
Infact, it is a bit more than one hundred if you include the weekend days that have been necessary to keep on top of the high level of engagement email and social media traffic!
This first four months can best be summed up as being positively inspiring and diverse and the last fourteen days have continued along these lines with a broad range of engagements focused on taking forward Scotland’s fintech opportunities.
Innovation Days
Our roundtable meeting in Fife with the local fintech community on Tuesday was a great example of how the innovation heritage in Scotland provides a valuable foundation for future fintech developments.
It was an insightful and engaging session for Mickael and myself in the Glenrothes Enterprise Hub with a good part of the discussion focused on the need to improve skills and talent development in the sector if we are to embrace the payment fintech opportunities ahead.
A big thank you to Iain Shirlaw for his fantastic leadership and energy in making the event happen and it was great to session from the Glenrothes local Ian Cunningham on the brilliant LendingCrowd business.
The previous day it was an opportunity to catch up with Professor Chris Speed and the Edinburgh College of Arts team on how we could work together to help the sector innovate and reimagine a new financial services world. So much potential around using data to drive innovation with a strong social purpose.
Embracing the open banking opportunity is one example of this and I am very excited about our emerging plans for the Centre of Excellence we’ve been developing with Ross Laurie and Gavin Littlejohn. Scotland’s innovative fintech firms are very much embracing this and looking forward to sharing more on this strategy at the Meet Up in a couple of weeks.
Strategic Days
Wednesday was my opportunity to share the open banking and the broader FinTech Scotland strategic plans with the quarterly Financial Services Advisory Board jointly chaired by Scotland’s First Minister and Jim Pettigrew, the chair of SFE and CYBG.
As we reach 100 days since launch, this meeting was an important milestone for FinTech Scotland in sharing the two year strategic plans with Government Ministers and senior figures from across financial services sector.
I came away hugely encouraged by the enthusiastic and collaborative support from all in attendance at the Board, especially for the confirmation of the inaugural chair and strategic partners for FinTech Scotland (See here for more)
There was certainly a commitment to making fintech a major success in Scotland and achieving a top five global status with a focus on data driven innovation combined with strong social purpose and outcomes.
This valuable Scottish Government and industry support was also mirrored in conversations during this last fortnight with very insightful Councilor Lezley Cameron as well as Paul Lawrence at Edinburgh City Council.
Hearing the exciting strategic plans for the City along with the ambition of the University of Edinburgh from Hugh Edmiston and Gordon Donald further demonstrated to me the opportunity for fintech to contribute to a broader thriving economy.
It further highlighted to me that the joint team efforts of the public sector, academia and private sector can really make a difference in making a strategy come alive for all to benefit and a shared focus on inclusive growth initiatives.
Collaboration Days
Of course, this requires everybody being focused on how we improve collaboration, and, in this respect, it was great to host the team from Blenheim Chalcott on how we could work together to create the right innovation environments for fintechs to scale and grow.
Very much looking forward to taking forward the ideas and initiatives that Mark Sanders and the team have to help exciting businesses such as Myles Stephenson’s Modulr continue to expand in Scotland.
This reinforces that collaboration needs to go beyond the financial services sector itself and it was great to catch up last week with Liz McAreavey, Chief Executive at the Edinburgh Chambers of Commerce.
Looking forward to further working with Liz on bringing alive the data driven innovation opportunities across the region through fintech with a diverse range of participants.
During this first one hundred days of FinTech Scotland, the collaborative support from the Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International teams has been immensely valuable.
I’ve very much appreciated the ongoing day to day collaboration from Sharon Hamilton, Graeme Rennsion and wider SE team as we consider the practical steps to improve fintech opportunities, for example, by making the network of services more integrated and creating good physical environments for collaboration.
Days talking about collaboration also require a global perspective and so it was wonderful to meet up with David Clarke to talk through the exciting Scottish-Irish Finance Initiative event in June.
Certainly looking forward to this and discussing how it will reinforce the mutual opportunities across the Irish Sea collaboration bridge for fintechs and the wider economy.
People Days
Of course, collaboration is all about people and an exciting part of the role is meeting a diversity of people all with a common bond of wanting to make fintech a success in Scotland and on the global stage.
For example, my regular catch up last Friday with the inspiring David Ferguson, chief executive of Nucleus Financial was as valuable as ever from which I gain a great deal from.
I am absolutely delighted that David has agreed to become the inaugural chair of Fintech Scotland and very much looking forward to his ongoing wide counsel and strategic insights as we execute out plans. See Here for more details
Earlier in the week I had the opportunity to see another of my role models, Judy Wagner of FWB Park Brown who is always so focused on making a difference through inclusive people engagement.
It was really wonderful to see Judy again along with hearing from Susan Murphy, Maeve Gillies and Jacqui Gale to discuss our sessions for the Emerging Women Leader Programme at the University of Edinburgh in June.
This focus on people development was also top of the conversation last week when seeing Maggie Morrison of CGI to share thoughts on initiatives to embrace the breadth and diversity of people skills across Scotland
A point which was also top of mind when talking with Eva Schueckel on my involvement with the Fintech Fellowship programme sponsored by Spotcap, such a critically important initiative in supporting young people in the fintech sector.
The people focus was also very topical at the iMultiply event on the role of humans with artificial intelligence last Thursday.
Very much enjoyed sharing the platform with the innovative Colin Hewitt of Float, the dynamic Melinda Matthews of CodeClan, all expertly hosted by Kirsty Mackenzie and Heather Corcoran. Great engagement from the audience and I think we could have carried on all night!
Running Days
I must admit I’m trying to avoid days that turn into late nights at moment as my running days intensify leading up to the Edinburgh marathon at the end of the May.
Before then, this weekend it is a warm up half marathon race at beautiful Loch Leven to test how much speed I have in my legs at the moment
This means another short trip to the Kingdom of Fife, a lovely place to run and, of course, the original home where fintech all started forty years ago as Bill Tennant from the excellent fintech firm Payment Centric rightly pointed out on Tuesday at the Glenrothes Enterprise roundtable.
Until next time.
Fintech Scotland Announces Inaugural Chairman and Strategic Partners
We are pleased to announce the appointment of our first Chairman and strategic partners.
The appointments were confirmed this week at the joint Scottish Government and industry Financial Services Advisory Board (FiSAB) meeting chaired by the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and Chair of Scottish Financial Enterprise and CYBG, Jim Pettigrew.
At the FiSAB meeting our CEO, Stephen Ingledew, set out FinTech Scotland’s ambitious vision and strategy to make Scotland a top five global fintech centre by 2020 that is recognised for data driven fintech innovation delivering positive social outcomes.
FinTech Scotland aims to encourage data driven innovation and collaboration activity across Scotland to deliver inclusive growth and achieve critical mass in the sector by:
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Facilitating an integrated and innovative fintech ecosystem
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Supporting innovative and entrepreneurial purpose driven fintech enterprises
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Encouraging development of fintech skills, diversity and inclusion
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Developing fintech community engagement, inclusion and collaboration
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Building international fintech engagement and collaboration
To deliver a range of initiatives, FinTech Scotland has partnered with global enterprises who have a strong presence in Scotland as well as being significant international leaders in their fields:
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Deloitte: the market leading professional services firm providing global expertise to help drive fintech growth in Scotland and international hubs across the world
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Pinsent Masons: the lawyers recognised as a global legal leader in fintech and Open Banking
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Dentsu Aegis Network: one of the largest and most respected international digital media and marketing agencies
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Sopra Steria: a major global digital transformation organisation with a proven reputation for software, solutions and delivery.
On confirming the strategic partners, Stephen Ingledew said, “It is a privilege to be working with such world-renowned organisations who are committed to supporting Scotland’s fintech economy. Following many conversations with a range of large firms over recent months, these strategic partners demonstrated their commitment and market leadership which will support our aspirations and plans. We are currently in discussions with a view to confirming additional strategic partners in the coming weeks”
David Ferguson, the founder and Chief Executive of the very successful, Edinburgh based fintech business, Nucleus Financial, has been appointed to chair the board. Ferguson was appointed by The Treasury in December 2016 as one of two regional fintech envoys for Scotland with a remit forbuilding regional and national networks which seek to ensure a greater level of co-ordination and collaboration between fintech companies, government, investors and regional fintech hubs.
Stephen Ingledew commented: “It was essential for us to have a highly respected fintech leader chairing our board and David, who has built one of the most successful businesses in the country managing over £14 billion on their wrap platform, ticked all the boxes and more.”
Speaking about his appointment, David Ferguson added: “It is a great privilege to have been appointed as chair of the FinTech Scotland board. Fintech is a fantastic opportunity for Scotland and I am excited to build on the great strides we have recently made to position ourselves as a global leader. The country should have a bright and prosperous fintech future ahead of it and I am greatly looking forward to helping Stephen and the team drive the sector forward and deliver meaningful action to help both start-ups to flourish and the more substantial financial services establishments to modernise.”
The strategic partners are joining David Ferguson, Scottish Enterprise and Edinburgh University on FinTech Scotland’s board. Additional board members will be announced soon which will include representatives from Scotland’s fintech community.
Scotland’s fintechs to play major role in the growth of mission-driven business
Over the past ten years we have witnessed some truly game-changing developments in the world of business. On the back of the worst financial crisis in living memory, distrust of large institutions has grown, consumers have become increasingly empowered, and a new generation of socially-conscious business leaders have emerged.
Rise of the social enterprise
While such economic uncertainty has bred volatility within the more traditional markets, some other markets have flourished and prospered. The rise of the social enterprise has been rapid, fuelled by a demand from everyday consumers to consciously choose or buy from businesses underpinned by strong ethical values.
At Social Investment Scotland (SIS), we have seen social enterprise morph from being a niche movement within local rural communities to a business model of choice for ambitious entrepreneurs in Scotland. And things are already changing again.
Innovation in the social enterprise
Innovative forms of delivering social impact are being delivered via a range of business models beyond the classic forms of social enterprise ”“ this is part led by education but also by investment needs and capital required to achieve impact at scale.
These new mission driven businesses’ (businesses that focus on the achievement of both conventional business aims alongside a clear and definable social mission) require investment that is aligned with these dual business objectives, something that is not yet widely acknowledged by more conventional forms of investment.
A good example is Storii (www.storiicare.com) set up by Scottish entrepreneur Cameron Graham in 2014. Storii seeks to improve the lives of those in care living by providing a platform via which they can engage with photographs and other memories of their past.
The useful and intuitive software has a range of applications across different care settings and has a clear business model alongside a definable social mission.
Through the launch of SIS Ventures, we plan to provide the tools and mission-aligned investment required to help early stage businesses, such as Storiicare, and social enterprises grow and deliver social impact at scale.
Over the next three years, SIS Ventures hopes to set up funds to raise up to £5m of new funding ”“ utilising both Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) and the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). The plan is to provide debt and equity to entrepreneurs, particularly those early stage ventures that might struggle to access investment from existing sources and have a mission to deliver impact at scale.
What about fintechs?
So where does fintech fit in you may ask? In our view, fintech will play an absolutely pivotal role in the continued development and growth of the mission-driven business sector. Underpinning this belied are two key factors.
Firstly, Impact Investing has expanded in scale in recent years, and one of the key drivers has been the development of new financial technologies. Innovative companies will continue to leverage new technologies to connect social enterprises with investors and raise awareness about sustainable investing opportunities.
Secondly, fintech offers a considerable solution to some of the common financial problems affecting societies across the world, ranging from money transfers and access to insurance and banking, to financial literacy and debt management. We’re already seeing a number of fintech operators emerge within this space, and we’ll continue to see more.
One such example is Sustainably, a fundraising app which enables user to round up their change for charity every time they shop. Another is Gigly ”“ an innovative, free to use platform helping people to navigate the gig economy, by finding them jobs, mortgages, training, services and more.
As one of the UK’s leading fintech hub outside of London, Scotland can play a leading role in marrying its expertise within fintech to its experience and experience in social enterprise. The prospect of developing a mission-driven sector with global scale is one that truly excites us. The launch of SIS Ventures now provides us, and Scotland, with an investment platform to help turn this prospect into reality, by supporting and investing in entrepreneurs who are passionate about making a difference.
For more information about SIS Ventures, visit www.sisventures.com