Lloyds Banking Group launches Innovation programme
Lloyds Banking Group has opened applications for its Launch Innovation program aimed at discovering potential FinTech partners. The 12-week program is designed to foster collaboration with FinTechs and InsurTechs, and successful applicants will work with the Group to further develop their business. The top performers will have the opportunity to run a commercial experiment in partnership with Lloyds Banking Group, potentially leading to a further partnership. Last year’s participant, Caura, received a £4 million investment from the Group. The Launch Innovation program aims to support emerging FinTech and InsurTech companies.
The program provides FinTechs and InsurTechs with expert guidance from Lloyds Banking Group, enabling them to develop their businesses further. The most successful applicants will be invited to participate in a commercial experiment in partnership with Lloyds Banking Group. The Launch Innovation program was highly successful in 2022, with Caura receiving a £4 million investment from the Lloyds Banking Group FinTech Investment team. Applications for 2023 are now open, and successful applicants will have access to senior management and subject matter experts, who will provide valuable insights into working with large financial institutions. The Group’s FinTech Investment Team will also review applications and have funds available to invest in seed to Series B businesses.
Kirsty Rutter, FinTech Investment Director at Lloyds Banking Group, stated:
“Our ambition is to become the best bank for FinTech and InsurTechs to work with, and we recognise that better collaboration with FinTechs and InsurTechs is key to delivering exceptional service and enhancing our capabilities. We are excited to hear from this year’s applicants and to explore ways to build the bridge between the needs of our business and personal customers and the FinTech community.”
Age Partnership partners with Scottish fintech Aveni
Scottish fintech Aveni.ai, the AI fintech business, has been chosen by Age Partnership, one of the leading Equity Release Advisory firms in the UK, to transform its Quality Assurance systems and set new standards for customer service and outcomes.
After a successful pilot scheme, Age Partnership has implemented Aveni Detect, an AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP)-based technology platform, to increase oversight of client interactions, maximize process efficiencies, and ensure data-led evidence of compliance to meet Consumer Duty regulations from the FCA.
The adoption of the latest advancements in generative AI, NLP, and large language models will enable Age Partnership to offer an automated element to Quality Assurance (QA) processes across all applications received. This will eliminate errors and increase the speed and effectiveness of customer interaction monitoring. It will provide unparalleled risk management and oversight, which will assist the business in expanding its operations to support more customers and enhance outcomes for them.
Aveni Detect has been established as a “Machine Line of Defense” to analyze all customer interactions, mitigating against a variety of risks, from conduct and complaints to customer vulnerability. It will comply with the data-first requirements of the new Consumer Duty regulation, which takes effect in July 2023.
David Wing, Director of Risk & Compliance at Age Partnership said,
“The pilot with Aveni was a real success. It demonstrated that by using their call transcription service to provide machine-based monitoring across our equity release customer journey, we were able to speedily identify key areas such as potentially vulnerable customers and subsequently then support advisers further through training.
“Ultimately, the technology provided by Aveni Detect helps us at Age Partnership to build upon the high level of service and advice that we provide to every individual client.”
Jamie Hunter, COO, Aveni explains,
“The chance to work with an innovative business like Age Partnership is exciting for Aveni as we work to help enhance its service and maintain its leading position. The business has embraced our AI platform from the very beginning of the pilot and is committed to using it to push boundaries and genuinely deliver better customer outcomes. With oversight across 100 percent of its customer interactions, the emphasis placed on the Quality Assurance function is unparalleled for Age Partnership and will allow real scalability whilst delivering data-led Consumer Duty compliance. The power of generative AI presents the dawn of a new era for financial advice and will be a key determinant in future success when placed at the heart of business operating models.”
Standard Life partners with FinTech Scotland on responsible investing
Standard Life, the UK’s most prominent long-term savings and retirement business, has launched its second annual Innovation Forum. The focus of the forum this year is to find and develop innovative solutions to help pension customers become more engaged with their investments, especially in terms of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors. The winning fintech partner will work alongside Standard Life to implement their solution for over three million customers.
The Innovation Forum aims to embed sustainability and prioritise the environment and people’s well-being in Standard Life’s operations. It seeks to find a fintech company that shares a commitment to responsible investing and can bring the benefits of digital innovation to savers. Potential ideas include ways to visualise how customer pensions are invested, methods to evaluate investments through ESG lenses, or demonstrating how investing responsibly now can lead to positive outcomes in the future.
This initiative is a collaboration between five organizations: TCS’s Co-Innovation Network (TCS COIN™) innovation ecosystem, Fintech Scotland, Women In Banking & Finance (WIBF), and Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE). The Innovation Forum builds on the success of last year’s event, which was won by Behavioural Finance, an Edinburgh-based company that uses psychometric testing to help users understand how their personality affects their relationship with money. Standard Life plans to introduce the wealth personality test developed by Behavioural Finance to some of its customers, with the goal of expanding it to more customers later this year.
This year’s Innovation Forum will follow a similar process, with fintechs presenting their innovative solutions to senior leaders across Standard Life and the wider Phoenix Group. Each shortlisted participant will work closely with a Standard Life mentor to refine their proposal before a long-term partnership is established with the winning company.
Standard Life’s Managing Director, Pensions and Savings, Colin Williams, said:
“This is a fantastic opportunity for Standard Life to connect with creative thinkers to enhance our proposition development and better support customers to engage with their investments and understand the impact they have on the world. This is key to our Group’s wider social purpose and sustainability strategy and follows the transition of £15bn of workplace assets to our new sustainable default fund. We are looking forward to hearing from innovators from across the FinTech Scotland, TCS COINTM and broader start-up community.”
Fintech Scotland Chief Executive, Nicola Anderson, said:
“We’re delighted to be partnering with Standard Life and Phoenix Group for a second year in a row to bring innovation and better outcomes to its customers. The first iteration of their Innovation Forum in 2022 was a real success and we’re very excited to see Standard Life’s plans for integrating the technology from Behavioural Finance into customers’ journeys. This year, they’ve set themselves an even bigger challenge as they’re looking to bring more innovation to ESG investing. Customer outcomes are directly linked to environmental and social issues, and vice versa – bringing this relationship to life is vital as we move towards a net zero future. At FinTech Scotland we identified Climate as one of the 4 key areas of focus in our Research and Innovation Roadmap and this innovation challenge will help us achieve our goal to move towards greener finance and have the sector contribute to the net zero agenda.”
Companies interested in applying can do so here.
FinTech Scotland secures UK Government funding to Accelerate Innovation in Financial Regulation
FinTech Scotland has secured UK Government funding to accelerate innovation in Scotland’s fintech cluster. The funding will advance research and innovation in financial regulation.
The FinTech Scotland initiative in partnership with industry partners, and with Strathclyde and Glasgow universities includes the creation of a new collaborative centre of excellence, called The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab.
The ground-breaking collaborative Lab will focus on leveraging new technologies to accelerate efficiencies, revolutionise risk management and shape future regulatory developments, accelerating the UK’s ability to seize competitive advantage in the future of financial regulation and fintech innovation.
The new funding is part of a broader successful bid by Glasgow City Region included in the UK Government’s initiative to accelerate the growth of high-potential innovation clusters’ in Glasgow, Greater Manchester, and the West Midlands. All of the projects in the Innovation Accelerator Programme will commence in the Spring, following Innovate UK’s normal diligence.
The funding allocation to fintech in Glasgow demonstrates the national commitment to drive fintech innovation across the UK.
The Lab enables FinTech Scotland to deliver one of the strategic recommendations laid out in the FinTech Research & Innovation Roadmap, launched in March 2022 and aligns with the recently announced UK innovation initiative, the CFIT, formed in response to the HM Treasury FinTech Sector Review.
FinTech Scotland will work across industry leading the development of the Lab, with initial actions focused on
- A sandbox to test and advance fintech innovations that meet industry demand.
- A facility to develop new businesses with an accelerated path to commercial success.
- Industry driven academic research, advancing new deployment of tech in finance.
- A technology focused skills programme for risk and regulatory professionals.
- Researched, data driven contributions helping advance financial regulation policy.
Nicola Anderson, CEO at FinTech Scotland commented:
“I am delighted to see the commitment and recognition from the UK Government in the high-growth potential of fintech innovation in Glasgow. The Innovation Accelerator funding will help push this forward.
The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab is a ground-breaking initiative. It brings together, industry partners, fintech entrepreneurs, universities, and regulators to revolutionise the future of financial regulation and risk management through technology and data. The outcomes will shape jobs for the future and propel our fintech ambition, here in Scotland and across the UK. “
Charlotte Crosswell OBE, Chair at the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) commented:
“The development of the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab is an exciting opportunity both for Glasgow and for the UK.
We have significant potential across the UK to drive fintech innovation and realise our full fintech potential. Drawing on our regional strengths and bringing experts across the finance and technology ecosystem is key. This is our mission at CFIT, and we’re delighted to support FinTech Scotland as it continues to demonstrate its impact, identifying opportunities for fintech growth and working in collaboration to drive the Innovation Acceleration across the UK.”
Encompass unveils pKYC maturity model
Encompass Corporation has recently introduced a perpetual Know Your Customer (pKYC) maturity model, which aims to set a new standard for regulatory compliance to combat financial crime. The model has been developed by the pKYC Advisory Board, a group consisting of representatives from global banks and trusted data, technology, and consulting partners. It aims to evaluate financial systems and assess their readiness to identify and prevent financial crime by placing them in a pKYC framework.
pKYC is a desirable state for many in the banking industry, as it uses automation technology to detect risk more accurately and quickly, while also increasing operational efficiency without the need for more headcount or time commitment. Typically, financial institutions re-evaluate customer data every one, three, or five years, depending on the level of risk, leaving the door open for undetected activity to occur over long periods.
The pKYC maturity model evaluates financial institutions in five core areas: Policy, People, Process, Data, and Technology. These factors are then further broken down into subcategories and assessed against the four stages of KYC: Manual KYC, Early Automation, Mature Automation, or pKYC. This provides a benchmark to determine the institution’s readiness for pKYC.
Encompass is providing banks with the means to assess their readiness for pKYC, facilitate discussions among stakeholders, and evaluate the progress of their transformation journeys. They are offering advice and technology solutions to expedite the process. According to Howard Wimpory, KYC Transformation Director for Encompass, financial institutions need to adopt automation technology to avoid undetected financial risks, comply with regulatory requirements, and protect themselves and society against financial crime.
Encompass has also released an industry whitepaper titled Planning your journey to perpetual KYC, which offers a comprehensive understanding of pKYC and the core components necessary to achieve this goal.
Scottish fintech Biscuit Tin shortlisted for UK StartUp Award
Biscuit Tin, a startup based in Dunbar, Scotland, has been announced as a finalist for the Fintech StartUp of the Year award at the upcoming Scottish Final of the StartUp Awards.
The StartUp Awards aims to celebrate the thriving startup scene across the UK, which has seen a 4.3% increase in new businesses founded since 2021, totaling over 800,000.
The program received a record-breaking number of applications this year, with 1,100 firms shortlisted across ten UK regions, all of which were started in the last three years.
These startups have collectively created over 5,000 new jobs and generated annual sales of £584 million. Biscuit Tin, launched in 2020 by serial entrepreneur Sheila Hogan, is a personal, digital legacy vault designed to simplify life administration for individuals and their loved ones by creating a digital legacy.
The StartUp Awards are supported by several national sponsors, including Starling Bank, BT, and British Business Bank. The finalists will be judged by a panel of experienced judges, including entrepreneurs and industry experts. The StartUp Awards were launched in 2022 in collaboration with the team behind the successful Great British Entrepreneur Awards.
New solution for Pensions Dashboards onboarding
A consortium of four leading technology providers has joined forces to offer a comprehensive end-to-end solution for pension providers seeking to integrate into the UK pensions dashboards ecosystem.
The collaboration between Target Professional Services, mypensionID, Bravura, and Delta Financial Systems is designed to simplify the complex processes and regulatory requirements that providers face when connecting to the ecosystem.
Each firm specialises in a particular area of expertise to ensure a seamless journey toward dashboard readiness before the staging deadline. Target Professional Services uses its leading tracing capabilities to screen and cleanse member data while mypensionID verifies and traces individual members using a verification app tailored to the pensions industry.
Bravura and Delta then provide a jointly developed cloud-hosted Integrated Service Provider (ISP) solution for providers’ data, with a focus on configurability and compliance with the Pensions Dashboards Programme’s (PDP) Code of Connection. The four firms’ technical expertise and market knowledge combine to create a unique solution capable of addressing pensions providers’ urgent and specific needs.
Jonathan Hawkins, Principal Consultant & Pensions Specialist at Bravura, said:
“Delta, mypensionID and Target’s deep expertise and technical know-how in the pensions and data sectors, combined with our ability to process huge volumes of assets and trades on our systems, brings a level of reliability and scalability that pensions providers require right now.
“Pensions dashboards are a crucial step towards modernising and digitising the UK’s pensions sector and, with the clock ticking, pensions providers up and down the country need tech partners with proven scale and expertise. This unique collaboration delivers that solution.”
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/young-woman-helping-senior-man-with-payment-on-internet-using-laptop-3823488/
Strategic AI Investment Partnership in fintech Level E Research by M&G
Level E Research has announced that it has received a minority stake investment from M&G plc in its latest seed funding round. The two companies are collaborating to develop a suite of investment strategies using Artificial Intelligence (AI). The AI investment strategies will be focused on regional equity markets and will be supported by an initial investment of GBP £100 million each. The first strategy, AI Smart US, has already been launched, with the aim of outperforming the US S&P 500 Index. The other strategies will have a similar aim of delivering excess investment returns compared to specific financial indices.
AI investment strategies rely on powerful computers to analyse vast amounts of data to identify investment opportunities. They can uncover value in areas that are difficult for humans to recognise and execute investment decisions faster and more efficiently. Additionally, they benefit from economies of scale and scope, making them more cost-effective.
Edinburgh-based Level E Research, founded by Dr. Sonia Schulenburg, is pioneering an innovative approach to AI-driven investing using a process called “Co-Creation.” Institutional investors can use this approach to create bespoke AI-driven investment strategies that run on Level E’s in-house “E-platform.” The strategies are backed by rigorous academic research.
M&G and Level E Research aim to bring AI and Machine Learning to the forefront of investment management. Dr. Sonia Schulenburg, CEO of Level E Research, expressed her excitement about the partnership with M&G and stated that Level E Research is perfectly positioned to provide AI solutions that empower the investment industry in the UK and beyond. David Montgomery, Managing Director at M&G Wealth, emphasised that AI solutions are becoming increasingly important in constructing bespoke investment options and that the partnership with Level E Research will help to offer a wide range of investment choices at a great value to financial advisers and clients.
New Scotcoin reward programme
Scotcoin, a decentralised digital currency created to provide a secure and stable alternative to traditional fiat currencies, has recently announced its new Rewards Programme. This exciting programme is designed exclusively for Scotcoin holders and is a unique opportunity for cryptocurrency enthusiasts to enjoy significant savings on various products and services.
The Rewards Programme, which is the first of its kind, is aimed at providing an innovative approach to incentivising Scotcoin holders to continue holding and using the cryptocurrency. The programme offers a wide range of discounts, including significant savings on shopping, groceries, entertainment, theme parks, audiobooks, and online classes. By utilising Scotcoin as a payment method, users can enjoy these savings and support the growth of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
One of the most remarkable features of the Rewards Programme is its affordability. For only 1,000 SCOT, users can access the programme and take advantage of the discounts on offer. The availability of such a low-cost programme is a testament to Scotcoin’s commitment to democratising access to its services and supporting its growing community.
The Scotcoin team’s dedication to social responsibility is evident in its recent partnership with Scotcoin Carbon Offset, which allows Scotcoin holders to use their cryptocurrency for carbon offsetting. By using Scotcoin for this purpose, holders can contribute to environmental conservation efforts while enjoying the benefits of the cryptocurrency.
The Rewards Programme is just one of the many exciting initiatives that Scotcoin is launching to promote the widespread adoption of cryptocurrency. With the increasing acceptance of cryptocurrencies worldwide, Scotcoin’s unique approach to incentivising users to hold and use their cryptocurrency could serve as a template for other digital currencies.
For cryptocurrency enthusiasts looking for an ethical and community-focused alternative to traditional fiat currencies, Scotcoin is the way to go. By participating in the Rewards Programme, users can not only enjoy significant savings but also contribute to the growth of a sustainable and socially responsible cryptocurrency ecosystem. To access the Rewards Programme, simply visit the Scotcoin website at scotcoinproject.com/rewards.
New identity verification standards for new home sales
The Home Builders Federation (HBF) has announced the launch of new and updated customer identity verification (IDV) and anti-money laundering (AML) checks following a successful 3-month consultation period run by Etive. The new process aims to improve the customer experience and align with emerging Government legislation and standards.
The HBF’s new process aims to eliminate the need for customers to show their ID separately to different parties throughout the purchase journey, reducing frustrations, costs, delays, and errors in the process. Customers will only have to prove their ID once during the home buying process.
The HBF consulted with 84 HBF members who responded to the survey, and one-to-one in-depth interviews were conducted with a range of different sized builders across the membership groups. The consultation helped the HBF develop an industry-centered set of rules that reflect good practices amongst home builders and ensure alignment to planned Government legislation.
The consultation’s output has led to the development of two new standards that go over and above the standards set out by DSIT to facilitate the selling of a home. The new standards are compliant with the DIATF and the HM Land Registry ‘safe harbour’.
Steve Turner, Executive Director of the HBF, said, “The new procedures are a huge step forward that will benefit both businesses and our customers and reduce delays, costs, and the opportunity for errors.” Stuart Young of Etive said, “A standard for IDV and AML will drive the industry towards higher standards, reducing the likelihood of money laundering and ID/property fraud, which can only benefit the sector, buyers, and the UK economy.”
The HBF is holding an online industry briefing session on Wednesday the 22nd March at 3 pm to provide further information on the new process. Those interested in attending can email Stuart at s.young@etive.org to receive details.
Photo by Dom J: https://www.pexels.com/photo/uk-driving-license-45113/