AccelerateHER by Investing Women: Bootcamps and Angel Investment opportunities

Investing Women, Scotland’s only all-female business angel group, is organising a series of free bootcamps for female entrepreneurs focused taking their venture to the next stage.
AccelerateHER are full day events organised in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. They are supported by Scottish Government funding for entrepreneurs. Alison Gray (Skillfluence) will be the host and will be accompanied by angel investors from Investing Women and advisers from law firm Burness Paull.
The dates are:
The bootcamp will focus amongst other things on optimising the value proposition, improving pitching skills and connecting with women angels.

Fortnightly FinTech Fuse ”“ The Home For FinTech

I’ve always been sure that Scotland is a natural home for fintech growth and innovation and my journeys over the last few weeks has reinforced this belief in so many ways.

The home of fintech really came alive for me during the meeting last Friday to discuss the development of the Fife FinTech Academy with Iain Shirlaw, John Mcfarlane, Krystyna Marett and Ann Salt.

Developing the skills for a bright fintech home of the future is crucial and the Academy initiative with an initial focus on financial payments will ensure the Fife region continues to lead the way globally.

You’ll be hearing more details on this following the launch event as a curtain raiser for FinTech Scotland Fortnight in September.

However, in the meantime the fantastic news from the global fintech player Renovite Technologies to expand further is testament to Fife being a key area of Scotland’s fintech home.

Innovation Home

Meeting new and established fintech firms demonstrated that innovation is alive and well in our home. For example, the credentials and track record of Inside Secure were wonderful to hear about when I caught up with Douglas Kinloch and Neal Michie at their Glasgow office one evening.

I’m excited about connecting the Inside Secure team with the fintech payment firms in Fife to take advantage of collaboration opportunities.

Similarly, from our meeting recently with David Eccles from Wallscope we can see potential to drive innovation in the home by making connections with key stakeholders

The value of an innovation led home was very much in abundance when Mickael and I met up with Mark Doherty, Stephen Pollock and Jason at Avaloq yesterday and then had the chance to join their All Hands’ meeting. Fantastic people with a fabulous working environment.

As initial founding partners of FinTech Scotland, Avaloq play a significant role in Scotland and globally and it is exciting working with them to support their growth and people development plans.

During their session, I was asked whether we can measure the real level of innovation taking place in Scorland.

This gave me the opportunity to highlight the innovation audit’ work we have been progressing with the Scottish Government CanDo team along with a couple of other sectors. I’m looking forward to progressing this work with June Love, Joanna McKenzie and the team.

Sharing the exciting innovation happening in our Scotland fintech home is always a privilege and on Wednesday there was the opportunity to do so with Scottish Government Minister Kate Forbes and UK Treasury Minister John Glenn.

Wonderful to hear the broad range of fintech leaders share how they are reinvesting financial services as well as candidly expressed the challenges in driving forward innovation in financial services.

Thank you to all who joined me for the Ministerial visit to Fintech Scotland, you all did the fintech community proud. Big thanks also to Shery, Fiona and Niamh for making everything run so smoothly.

Later that day I ran over Glasgow to join the MBN Solutions and DataLab fabulous event for data scientists to share thoughts on why fintech is a wonderful home to develop a career path in Scotland.

Many thanks to Paul Forrest, Mickael Young, Rob Huggins and their super team, sorry I had to rush off at the end to get back for my daughters 18th birthday!

In a slightly different part of the fintech home, catching up with Suhail Ahmed of Advisory Direct and then later that day with Eleanor Tucker of GangHut at the Product Tank event highlighted to me the power of new collaborations in the fintech home.

Collaboration Home

The subject of collaboration opportunities was very much on the agenda with my catch up with Nucleus Financial chief executive David Fergusson, and of course, chair of FinTech Scotland

David rightly challenged me on whether larger enterprises were genuinely innovating and embracing collaboration opportunities in the market with fintech firms.

There are some terrific examples happening such The ID.Co work with CYBG and the Castlight Financial team with HSBC.

Meeting up with Philip Grant of Lloyds Bank Group and then separately also with Sarah Barry of Sainsbury Bank highlighted that the banking sector is seeing the value in fintech collaboration to strengthen our collective home.

Meeting Colin Carmichael from our strategic partner Sopra Steria allowed us to develop plans to progress this and, furthermore, identify new emerging collaboration opportunities.

For example, my meeting with the Hymans Robertson team John Taylor, Scott Finnie and Barry Smart made it clear that there are fintech collaboration opportunities very much in the pensions and employee benefits space going forward.

Fintech collaboration can go beyond the various financial services sectors and so it was good to meet up last week with Christian Beveridge and Derek Toal of Virgin Media explore cross sector opportunities. Great to hear about their role at the FinTech Summit in September.

For me one of the exemplars of collaboration is JP Morgan, reinforced in my conversation with Douglas of Inside Secure.

So it was a privilege to plays a role in last weeks JP Morgan FinTech Roundtable with a broad spectrum of guests from the asset management sector. Thank you to Stephen Flaherty, Sandy Brodie and the team, much to take on board on how to unlock the collaboration potential in our home.

In this respect, I am delighted to have worked with Scottish Enterprise to welcome the Vivolution team as the FinTech Scotland Network Integrator and into our home to foster the collaboration and support fintech firms in Scotland with growth.

Home of Excellence

Building a home of excellence for fintech firms is a key objective and the expertise of the Vivolution team will support fintech firms with funding and commercial development.

It was good to talk this all through at the FinTech Practitioners Group Meeting recently and it was terrific to have such a great attendance from the community, even if it was a bit of a squeeze!

Thank you to everyone who came along and your valuable contributions and feedback, next main meetings in October will focus on funding sources and options plus a fintech home social’.

Our appreciation to Anneli Ritari-Stewart and the team from our strategic partner Dentsu Aegis for hosting and making us all feel so much at home in Scotland’s epicentre of digital and marketing. And of course, wonderful to see the Whitespace team now part of the Dentsu Aegis family and in the fintech home.

A few days before the Practitioners Forum, we had the latest Open Banking Excellence meet up, great conversation and super to see even more new faces. Thanks again to James Varga for hosting.

Developing the Open Banking Centre of Excellence continues to be a key priority working with the inspiring Gavin Littlejohn plus a core team from the University of Edinburgh. Thanks again Damien, Douglas, Kevin and Triinu Hansen

Really useful meeting with Colin Garland, director of the Competition and Markets Authority on the subject of the centre of excellence strategy and plans, thanks Colin very much appreciated your enthusiasm for this initiative and great to hear about your expansion plans in Scotland.

Similarly, it was tremendously useful to catch up with Simon Thompson, chief executive of the Chartered Bankers Institute who have a key role to play in the emergence of a global open banking centre of excellence. Very much appreciate your insight and engagement Simon, looking forward to collaborating further on a local and international level.

International Home

Another of our key objectives is to embrace the global fintech opportunities for our home here in Scotland and sharing the story to gain interest in what we are doing is something we always grasp.

So, it was brilliant to be given the opportunity to present to some significant Middle east and Far East sovereign fund and institutional fund investors who were being hosted by the University of Edinburgh

Thank you to The ID.Co, Money Dashboard and Sustainably for supporting me with the conversations as well as George Baxter, chief executive of Edinburgh Innovations for including us in the opportunity.

The recent late Friday afternoon meeting with Kent Mackenzie and Chris Brown from our global professional services partner Deloitte got me excited on how we can develop the fintech home on a international stage going forward.

Reinforced this last two weeks with international conversations on our fintech home stretching from as far away as Rhode Island, USA and as near as Ireland. Thank you Paul Snape and David Clarke I look forward to seeing you both during our Fintech Fortnight with your colleagues.

We are delighted that Scottish International Week led by global leader Russell Dalgleish starting 17th September coincides with Fintech Fortnight and we look forward to welcoming many global guests to our fintech home during this time.

A huge thank you to everyone across the community who is contributing to making FinTech Fortnight happen in a few weeks time and the great support from our friends at Visit Scotland.

On the subject of international themes, many congratulations to my global mentor Promilla Caughey on taking up a new role with the Scottish Government, a fantastic career move and so well deserved.

Running for Homes

I’ll be running for homes on Sunday as I take part in the 15 mile urban rush race from South Queensferry to Holyrood for the charity Shelter Scotland.

The Shelter Scotland fight to address the impact of homelessness has always meant a great deal to me and this is my small way of contributing to their great work. Everyone deserves a home that is safe and secure.

This will be a great practice race ahead of my marathon in two weeks time just prior to the official start of FinTech Fortnight on 17thSeptember. Until then!

FinTech has arrived in Scotland: Investing in skills will make sure it stays

Article written by Jim Tomaney, chief operating officer, Renovite Technologies Inc.

Historically, among the many things Scotland is applauded for, financial services and innovation sit as two of its longest-standingand best-known accomplishments. This week’s visit from Ivan McKee MSP, the Minister for Trade, Investment and Innovation, to several growing FinTech’s in Fife, including our own, demonstrates the extent to which this assertion continues to bear weight; confidence in the sector is high ”“ and for good reason.

For us, Mr McKee’s visit signifies a flagship moment. It recognises Renovite Technologies as an important part of a growing FinTecheco-system that taken together is creating new opportunities for businesses and people up and down the country – whilst positioning Scotland as a central player in the global FinTech market.

New and emerging sectors like financial technology are essential when it comes to planning our economic future. As the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s latest economic forecast showed, we are potentially facing subdued’ economic growth for at least the next five years.Yet, at the same time, it acknowledges that: “The past is an imperfect guide to the future in a rapidly changing global economic, social, political and technological environment.”

To buck this trend and make sure the past does not representthe future, it is imperative that we continue to invest growing sectors andparticularly, in skills and people. As Stephen Ingledew said last year: “In these fast-changingtimes,Scotland punches well above its weight in Fintech. Driven largely by world-renownedexpertisein the use of Data, Scotland is rapidly establishing itself as a significant Fintech hub.”

It is reasons like this ”“ expertise – that we as a company that specialises in payments technology has chosen to invest in Scotland as a base for our operations. Giving people, whether it be through retraining initiatives like CodeClan or through specialist FinTechcourses, the right skills should be an absolute priority in the days ahead.

Today’s consumers continually push for new and innovative products in financial services. Scottish FinTechs have been able to satisfy that demand thanks to a highly skilled and experienced workforce – combined with a supportive business environment.
Remaining agile and responsive to these demands will ensure Scotland continues to enjoy such a strong reputation in the area and its businesses continueto grow.

Thanks to rising demand for better payments software from banks and money management companies, we have grown our team in Scotland by more than three times this year and anticipate tripling this figure again over the next 12-months.

We are only able to do this because we have access to some of the most skilled staff in the global labour market. For this to continue, we must look to grow and develop a workforce that is able to satisfy the market in the future, ensuring Scotland remains a magnet for technology-drivenfinancial services in the future.

Fintech and Gamification

This article was written by Phil Smy from Pocket Sized Hands. Pocket Sized Hands is a software company who have developed games using gamification techniques for St. Andrews University and for other clients.

There’s a consistent theme in the challenges that financial companies face when interacting with existing and new customers, engagement and education. Customers find interacting with financial services to be unengaging due to lack of understanding, complexity and jargon.

Many fintech companies are utilising new ways to tackle this problem, namely gamification. Gamification is the application of game concepts, features and game design principles for non-gaming applications. In practice these techniques come in the form of rewarding good behaviour, implementing interactivity to engage customers or visualising data.

The purpose of this is to engage and inform individuals through novel means. In the past, gamification techniques have been used within various sectors. Education have benefited from gamification to inform and engage students. Fitness companies have used gamification to encourage a healthy lifestyle. For many businesses, gamification has been found to be a cost-effective method of training in comparison to traditional training techniques.

Education

Gamification within education is a growing trend. The basis of using gamification within a teaching context is that if users are engaged with games that communicate lessons through gameplay mechanics or objectives, users can learn without even realizing it. If you give a young person the option to play a mobile game, doing their homework or attending a lecture, most young people will want to play the game.

Applying this to the fintech industry and you can see how young people (or people of all ages) could play gamified applications with rewards and interactions to better engage with their financial future. Through feedback loops, customers can learn to make good choices with their money and stop spending their money recklessly. By utilising these techniques, fintech companies can reward and condition good financial behaviour.

Rewards

Gamification rewards can be divided into two different sections, extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. An example of an extrinsic reward within gamification is the accumulation of points, achievements, places on a high score table etc. For fintech, instead of earning points, the user can be saving money.

For example, if a user saves some money through their pension pot or financial plan, the application would be able to visualise and summarise how much they have saved and reward the user for saving a certain amount, this can also work with real word rewards.

Companies in the past have experimented with real life rewards such as vouchers and money off products and services. In terms of intrinsic rewards, educating users of financial plans and other elements of finance can help financial companies engage and inform their customers.

Conclusion

The overall goal of gamification applications is to change the behaviour of consumers on a wide scale. Gamification does this by educating users of potential bad habits and rewarding users for their good habits. Dr. Iain Donald of Abertay University, the leading games design university in Europe summarises it perfectly.
The application of game design and technology to engage new audiences has proven to be extremely beneficial, both in the education and entertainment sectors. Increasingly that potential is being harnessed in other industries from medicine through to finance.

Applied Fintech Project at the University of Glasgow

After the many important achievements during its first year of existence, the University of Glasgow Fintech Society is delighted to share its ambitious plans for the upcoming academic year.

Only founded in summer 2017, the society was able to reach more than 100 members, organise six workshops and a panel events supporting the idea of “learning by doing”, invite guest speakers from famous Fintech companies and get shortlisted for the Best New Society of the Year Award by the Glasgow University Students’ Representative Council.

Now that the new academic year is approaching, the society aims to develop even more by offering innovative learning opportunities.

A proof of this is the Applied Fintech Project (AFTP), a 7-week-long activity based on experiential learning, which will take place between September and November 2018.

There will be 4 teams of 4-5 members from different subject areas and degrees within the University, selected by the society’s board through an application process. The teams will work on a “live” business case provided by Orca, an Edinburgh-based Fintech startup which operates in the peer to peer lending industry.

During the working period, the teams will be supported and guided by mentors (University of Glasgow alumni and/or professionals) and they will be asked to prepare a report and a presentation to show their work.

The AFTP will end with a final event on Friday 16th November 2018, during which the teams will have the chance to present in front of an audience of academics, professionals and students. A board of judges will then deliberate which team has presented the best solution to the case.

The event, taking place at Glasgow University Union (GUU), will also represent a great networking opportunity for everyone involved.

The Applied Fintech Project is not only an exciting opportunity for the students and the businesses involved, but also the first project of its kind organised by a student-led society in Scotland.

Fintech Society members will work in teams to map out the challenges and opportunities faced by the businesses with regards to Fintech, drawing on cross-disciplinary research to devise tailored insights and potential solutions for the firm. At the same time, the startup providing the case will benefit from having the opportunity to gain another perspective on the specific Fintech-related issue from university students. Furthermore, the business will havethe chance to promote themselves among university students interested in technology,finance and innovation.

Apart from the kind support received by Orca in the provision of the case, the AFTP is supported by the UofG Fintech Society’s main sponsor, Previse, a successful Fintech startup that uses an artificial intelligence solution to support instant payments between corporates and SMEs.

For further information about the project, the UofG Fintech Society can be contacted at info@uogfintech.com.

Global outlook #1 – New Zealand – Banqer

Banqer transforms the classroom into a virtual economy
Banqer is an award-winning innovative financial education platform that gives primary and elementary students hands on experience with personal finances.
Through an online classroom currency, Banqer gets kids everywhere curious, creative, and ultimately, confident with money.
The startup was awarded the Child Youth Finance International Economic Citizenship Education’ Award at the Global Inclusion Awards in 2017. Banqer is the first New Zealand company to ever be recognised by the Global Inclusion Awards.
Kendall Flutey, who co-founded Banqer in Christchurch, New Zealand launched the business in January 2015 with four business partners, after developing the concept at a start-up event the previous year.
She says New Zealand needs to ensure educators are comfortable in the digital world and creating a digital-centric educational environment is critical.
Her company partners with Kiwibank, helping more than 63,000 students in Australasia teaching students about saving, investing, borrowing and purchasing by turning the classroom into a virtual economy.
Flutey says one concern she has with ed-tech is that people are confusing digital consumption with digital production ”“ and students need to become future leaders in the digital creation space.
“The other remaining stigma is around girls and tech. We urgently need more females to get into tech as a career. People are doing awesome mahi (work) in this space, but this issue needs to be quashed. It’s the last thing we need. Women who get into tech are doing amazing things.”
Flutey says to crank up to the digital revolution in New Zealand, businesses, organisations and people need to reduce barriers, be it devices, literacy, confidence or capabilities.

Blockchain Live 2018

On September 26 in London, Europe’s premier blockchain event will bring the latest and greatest in Blockchain, DLT and Smart Contracts. Blockchain Live 2018 will welcome big names such as Bitfury, ConsenSys and EOS.

For the first time, a meeting of some of the greatest experts in blockchain and DLT will be hosted in London. Amongst others, Nick Szabo, the father of smart contracts; Alex Tapscott, Author of the Blockchain Revolution; Blockchain Guru, Oliver Bussmann and the Chamber of Digital Commerce’s Perianne Boring will share their thoughts.

Blockchain Live 2018 will deliver industry inspired content. The conference will help businesses wishing to harness the potential of blockchain. It will look at the full spectrum from pioneering developers to the new generation of investors and entrepreneurs.

The event will contain a mix of free-to-attend and paid-for content. The paid-for events: the Blockchain Leaders’ Summit and C-Suite Stage, are directed at business leaders who want to learn from real life case studies on strategic implications of blockchain.
The C-Suite events will help attendees make the most of a blockchain enabled future.

There are 7 free-to-attend Industry Stages’ around some verticals such Fintech, Govtech, TechDev, Product Journey, Cryptocurrency, Energy Forum and Creatives including gaming, gambling and entertainment.
You’ll be able to listen from BNP Paribas, SWIFT, London Stock Exchange Group, EDF, Coca-Cola, Bupa and HSBC.

On top of all of this the organisers are bringing 2 new events to Blockchain Live 2018:
Blockchain Bust Up: Live debate on the governance and regulation around Blockchain and DLT

Investor Zone featuring The Start-Up Village and Pitch: a hive of blockchain innovators with new and exciting technologies

To read more and register click here

The Herald Intrapreneurial Conference in association with CivTech®

What is Intrapreneurship?

It is an essential part of a nations landscape to encourage, discuss and focus on Intrapreneurship to ensure that a nation’s economy grows.

Internal Entrepreneurship – intrapreneurship – is crucial to companies who wish to keep their competitive edge. It is becoming increasingly important, in such fast-paced times, to encourage and grow those from the inside of a company, where their talent and knowledge lies.

The conference

To help achieve businesses’ ambitions for empowering those with an entrepreneurial spirit, The Herald are holding their first Intrapreneurial Conference to engage, inspire and showcase organisations, companies, workplaces and individuals who are leading the way on their Intrapreneurial journeys.

Intrapreneurship has never been more important to our businesses, our economy and our society in such changing times. This is an event you do not want to miss.

The Intrapreneurial Conference takes place on August 28 at 200 St Vincent Street, Glasgow.

Register on https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-herald-intrapreneurial-conference-in-association-with-civtech-tickets-47350832615

For further information please contact Kirsty Loughlin on 0141 302 6016 or email kirsty.loughlin@newsquest.co.uk

Open Banking: Bringing Product Diversification & Consumer Choice

In a major vote of confidence in the future of Open Banking, Clydesdale Bank has integrated the DirectID Open Banking Platform from The ID Co. into its B mobile banking app. B analyses user data to make informed suggestions about spending and saving habits. Use of the platform will allow customers to see their account details and balances from all major banks and building societies in one location.

PSD2

Following the passage of the second Payment Services Directive in January, the nine biggest UK banks have been opening their data to approved FCA companies such as The ID Co. and other Payment Initiation Services Providers (PISP).

We have been extremely vocal in our support for Open Banking, bringing about, as it does, a tremendous opportunity for banks and customers. In the case of Clydesdale Bank customers, they can now import banking data from a range of UK banks including: Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Group, Santander, RBS and Nationwide, as well as digital banks such as Starling and Monzo.

Future Developments

This is an excellent start for legislation that has only been in place for eight months. For both the industry, and consumers, the future is even more exciting.

The introduction of Open Banking and PSD2 are set to revolutionise the banking sector, as new players and smaller disruptor banks can level the playing field and compete with the established players. This in turn will lead to an upsurge in the volume of innovative products that are on offer to banking consumers, which will ultimately transform the sector.

Tech Innovation

Through the use of APIs, we expect to see further innovation and growth amongst new businesses in the financial technology space, as well as within banks directly. This is in part being driven by customer expectation. Consumers in the main continue to bank with the five largest banks (Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays, RBS & Santander), but due to their size and scope and lack of direct competition, services have not matured in line with technological innovation. Savvy consumers demanding innovative products are being offered more opportunity than ever to tailor the services that they are offered by financial providers.

“Clydesdale’s adoption of Open Banking is an exciting step forward in how Open Banking enabled propositions are helping customers securely move, manage and make more of their money.

Imran Gulamhuseinwala OBE, Trustee of the Open Banking Implementation Entity.

Moving forward, we are confident that account integration will be viewed as the starting point for Open Banking. Companies, including the ID Co., are building products and services that will address such diverse issues as income verification, affordability, credit risk, and Know Your Customer (KYC).

These, individually and collectively, will impact upon major issues across the globe such as financial inclusion and servicing the unbanked, allow access to credit for those with thin credit histories, and drive down the cost of lending for consumers.

Digital Banks

The view amongst industry experts is that there is now a defined movement away from viewing banks as focusing solely on money, and towards banks becoming connected spaces for digital services. How banks react and take up this mantle could be key to their success in this new era of Open Banking. We have already witnessed banks such as Starling, Monzo and Atom Bank that have developed their proposition based on the ability to provide a “marketplace” of additional features to their customers ”“ albeit not based on Open Banking – and it is now up to the larger banks to respond.

Closing Thoughts

Open Banking has ultimately been brought about through the will of Government in order to offer consumers more choice and range in their financial products. Now that Open Banking is here and is happening, the response of the major banks will be closely monitored.

We are delighted that Clydesdale & Yorkshire Bank have understood the need to explore and implement functionality brought about through Open Banking, and we look forward to working closely with them. As more services and products are brought to market through fintech companies, challenger banks and the established players, we look forward to understanding their impact upon the industry, and ultimately the consumer.

Author
James Varga, CEO, The ID Co.

James founded The ID Co. in 2011 with a mission to create convenience””to allow us to sign up to new products and services in seconds.

The ID Co. builds products based on (open) bank data that helps businesses like online lenders to onboard their customers efficiently by solving pains such as affordability and credit risk.

Our DirectID business products help lenders to onboard their customers by removing friction caused during the application process by the current challenges of risk, compliance, fraud, and regulation.

The products we provide solve business pains such as assessing a customer’s affordability, verifying their account information, and thereby offsetting credit risk.

James is active in a number of local and global efforts to help people do more online, including the Fintech Delivery Panel (FDP), FDATA, Open Banking Excellence | Edinburgh, and Trust In Digital Life (TDL), whose mission is to create a trusted ecosystem that protects the data and assets of citizens and enterprises across Europe.

Thrive in the Digital Age 2018: Focus on future Leadership and skillset

Shifting from an age where humans had to adapt to machine interfaces, to a new era in which machines adapt to human interface. How will the paradigm shift to natural AI affect the way we work and how we interact with technology? The changes in digital space are affecting us as customers but what about us as employees and our career paths? There are many unanswered questions in todays fast changing technology landscape but with changes and uncertainties often comes opportunities and innovation.

Tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today. “Thrive in the Digital Age” brings together Keynote speakers from Google, Accenture Digital, Fintech Scotland, RBS and DLA Piper. Keynotes will share latest news of their fields, from new discoveries to new applications. They will also focus on career outlook based on their vision of the changing landscape in their disciplines as well as how they are working to influence the future.

Why Attend

Get inspired

Industry pioneers will share their vision on digital era, future leadership and how to accelerate your career.

Drive a discussion

Ask and discuss all your burning questions with industry experts during our panel and networking sessions.

Networking

Meeting like-minded people in a lively and friendly environment with food and drinks.

Supercharge your Career

Make this Thursday a day to recharge and refocus your career.

Contribute to a great cause

All earnings from the conference will go towards the Prince’s Trust. While developing yourself, you are supporting young people’s growth.

What’s included in your ticket
✓Access to all speeches
✓Take part in our panel session
✓Access to our booths
✓Energetic brain food, including, refreshments throughout the day
✓Access to post-conference drinks reception