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UK Fintech Week special – a chat on synthetic data with Smart Data Foundry

Season 3, episode 6

Listen to the full episode here.

In this special episode with speak with David Tracy, Head of Data Science, at Smart Data Foundry on the week they presented their new Aisle proposition at Innovate Finance Global Summit.

What is synthetic data is? How is it different from real-world data?

We’ll explore how it will speed up innovation and collaboration in the fintech world, what the risks and benefits are and much more.

David will also speak to us about the work they’ve done with the FCA and the PSR to tackle APP fraud using Agent Based Simulation. 

The Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology recruits

The Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) is delighted to reveal that it has teamed up with Recruit121, a worldwide expert in talent acquisition within the finance and technology industry, to locate its core senior leadership squad.

CFIT’s objective is to remove the obstacles to expansion in financial technology, and the achievement of this goal depends on creating a robust and efficient leadership unit.

The roles are:

Head of Talent, Engagement & Placements

Director of Coalitions & Research

Director of Ecosystem & Partnerships

Ezechi Britton, CEO of CFIT, commented,

“The Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) is extremely pleased to announce that we have partnered with Recruit121 in order to source our core leadership team. These first few roles are critical to making CFIT a success and to carrying out our mission to unblock the barriers to growth for financial technology.”

 

FinTech Scotland is recruiting a Strategic Innovation Director

FinTech Scotland is recruiting for a new role, the Strategic Innovation Director, who will be responsible for leading and evolving the innovation strategy outlined in the FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap. This appointment is vital and will drive the strategic direction of fintech innovation in Scotland, working across all priority stakeholders and alongside FinTech Scotland’s CEO to advance the fintech opportunity in Scotland and the UK.

The role of the Strategic Innovation Director is critical in the future development of the cluster, building on successes so far and leading the cluster’s innovation strategy and its implementation. Specifically, the StrategicInnovation Director will initially be responsible for establishing a new fintech centre for innovation that focuses on innovation in Financial Regulation ”“ The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab. This project is critical and supported by the UK government, large financial and professional service institutions, regulators, fintech entrepreneurs, and universities.

The Strategic Innovation Director will implement an industry-led strategy and work in partnership with leaders across the cluster to enable the success of the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab. They develop a program of work that will help advance responsible innovation and technology adoption in financial regulation, developing and growing strategic relationships with professional and financial services, regulators, and academia, managing multiple stakeholders’ interests, leading collaborative cross-sectoral actions to advance common opportunities and challenges, supporting delivery of the broader FinTech Scotland strategy. Working as part of the FinTech Scotland senior leadership team they will drive continued fintech cluster excellence.

In summary, this new role of the Strategic Innovation Director is vital for the future development of FinTech Scotland, driving innovation strategy and its implementation, and establishing the Financial Regulation InnovationLab in collaboration with the industry’s leading stakeholders. The successful candidate for this role will bring leadership, business skills, and the ability to work collaboratively with leaders across the cluster to ensure the success of this critical project. The role provides a unique opportunity to play a part in shaping the future of finance and fintech in Scotland and across the UK.

Interested or know someone who could be?

Read more

 

Fintechs DirectID and Faciit partner to make accessing credit easier

DirectID, the global credit and risk platform for risk managers, has announced a partnership with Faciit, an alternative lending solution for individuals without a UK credit history. This partnership utilises DirectID’s open banking insights to assist people with new-to-country status in accessing affordable credit.

Faciit’s save-to-borrow solution operates by requiring users to save one-third of their loan requirements for a minimum of three months. Following this, Faciit provides the remaining two-thirds as competitive loans. Faciit distinguishes itself from traditional lenders by not relying solely on bureau data to make credit decisions. Instead, the company employs DirectID’s income verification, using open banking data to determine whether an individual can afford to repay the loan.

James Varga, CEO & Founder of DirectID, said:

We’re delighted to partner with Faciit to help new-to-country individuals access affordable credit using DirectID’s open banking-powered insights. The partnership is perfectly placed alongside our mission to promote financial inclusion and responsible lending practices. By using open banking, we can enable better access to financial services for everyone, regardless of their credit history or financial status.

The partnership between DirectID and Faciit is rooted in their shared mission to promote financial inclusion. Faciit aims to provide new-to-country status individuals with the loans they need to achieve their financial goals, while DirectID believes everyone should have access to the financial services they need.

Olaolu Olaleye, CEO & Founder of Faciit said:

Our name Faciit means we facilitate it, and it sums up our mission to help create financial possibilities for those who will struggle otherwise. We are excited to partner with DirectID to deliver our complimentary missions of enabling financial inclusion.

GiftRound and Mangopay strengthen partnership

GiftRound, the specialist platform for group gift collection, has announced an enhanced partnership with Mangopay, a platform-specific payment infrastructure provider, to handle all payment flows on the platform. This partnership was established in 2018, at the inception of GiftRound, which has thus far processed over £10.5 million through more than 75,000 money pots using Mangopay.

GiftRound offers a secure, dependable and user-friendly online service that facilitates group gift collection. The platform’s aim is to bring people together to celebrate and revive the pleasure of giving gifts in groups for the collector, the donor, and the recipient. Presently, there are over 800,000 users for 125 daily created GiftRounds.

The management of payment flows is central to GiftRound’s service. The company required a robust payment provider to process intricate payment flows. Mangopay’s expertise and capabilities were a perfect match for this purpose, with a long track record of working with platform-specific businesses, including crowdfunding companies. With Mangopay’s API, GiftRound can ensure secure money collection, fraud prevention and anti-money laundering measures, all of which are vital for the platform. Mangopay also offers KYC processes alongside secure and diverse payment methods.

Moreover, GiftRound will now incorporate Mangopay’s e-wallet modular technology, which will add an extra layer of protection and security before dispersing funds to the recipient. This functionality will provide flexible and scalable pay-in and pay-out capabilities, which are crucial for the platform and GiftRound’s commitment to delivering dependable and seamless payment experiences to customers.

Craig Forsythe, CEO & Founder, GiftRound highlights:

“Having started this journey with Mangopay in 2018, we’re delighted to continue working together. Payment flows are crucial for us as we work on maintaining our high levels of growth by listening to our customers to improve their payment experience on our platform. It is key for us to work with a trusted partner and we know that crowdfunding payment flows are part of Mangopay’s DNA. Mangopay will enable us to process multiple payment flows daily in the safest way possible and we look forward to continuing to grow a reliable, secure service with our trusted partner.”

 

Luke Trayfoot, Chief Revenue Officer, Mangopay declares:

“Our modular and flexible payment infrastructure is a necessary asset for platforms, especially as they look to further improve their payment operations, user experience and scalability. We are proud to support GiftRound on its payment journey and help their customers organise gift collections quickly and easily. The UK represents a key growth market for Mangopay and having national partners such as GiftRound is fundamental for our expansion in the market.”

Scaling Up – improving Resilience

Season 3, episode 5

Listen to the full episode here.

Scaling up a fintech business is a crucial part of a company’s life, moving from launching and validating a proposition to growing, onboarding clients and driving revenue. At that stage companies will focus on marketing, sales, recruitment which are all important considerations. It is however paramount to also look at resilience to protect customers/clients, adhere to new regulation, be investor ready and navigate procurement better and faster.

In this podcast we will explore what being resilient mean. We’ll cover cyber resilience of course but will go much wider and look at how to build a solid and future proof business. 

Guests: 

Wayne Scott – Regulatory Compliance Solutions Lead

David Lanc – Founder and CEO at Ionburst

Bravura double win at pensions age awards 2023

Scottish fintech Bravura is delighted to announce two award wins at this year’s Pensions Age Awards.

Taking place on 21 March 2023 in London, the Bravura team brought home trophies for Best Marketing Campaign and Pensions Personality of the Year for its Principal Consultant and Pensions Specialist, Jonathan Hawkins.

After working more than 25 years in the pensions space, Jonathan joined Bravura in 2018 and has worked within the Group ”“ including its subsidiary Delta Financial Systems ”“ to expand the company’s offering in the pensions space. This includes him leading a highly skilled mixed team of developers, consultants, testers, infrastructure, service design and more across the globe to design and build its industry-leading Integrated Service Provider (ISP), Dashboards Connect, as well as acting as a vital source of inspiration for the industry to challenge the status quo and use dashboards to effectively digitise the industry and bring substantial benefits to individuals and firms once dashboards are available to the public.

Last year, Jonathan took a leading role in the company’s Pension Dashboard Week initiative, which also secured gold for Best Marketing Campaign of the Year. The campaign, which saw more than 1,500 industry participants register for its awareness raising week, aimed to inspire the pensions industry to think beyond the upcoming Pensions Dashboard Programme staging deadlines and focus on the benefits the regulation could bring to both providers and individuals. The campaign featured a range of talks, webinars and Q&As, designed to inspire and educate Pension Providers, Schemes, TPAs and Wealth Platforms about what is involved and required to connect to the pensions dashboards ecosystem, whilst also highlighting how best-in-class technology can turn the possibilities that dashboards present into reality.

Jonathan Hawkins, Principal Consultant and Pensions Specialist, said:

“I’m obviously over the moon to be named Pensions Age’s Pensions Personality of the Year. I’ve been following the development of the pensions dashboards programme for at least seven years now and it’s a hugely exciting initiative to be part of and help the industry take one step closer to the holy grail of open finance as well as encourage people to better understand and engage with their pensions. It’s not just a huge privilege for me, but a massive validation for the entire talented Pensions Dashboards project team at Bravura and our subsidiaries Delta Financial Systems and FinoComp, who have all been instrumental in creating our scalable ISP microservices ”“ Dashboards Connect ”“ and leading the industry with our innovative and inclusive events. The digitisation of pensions is coming, and I’m excited to be at the vanguard of that revolution and commit to further helping the industry imagine the future.”

Justine Pattullo, Marketing Manager EMEA, added:

“Despite our rich history in pensions in Australia and Delta having more than 30 years’ experience in the UK SIPPs market, this is relatively new territory for Bravura and a fantastic achievement to celebrate two wins at one of the industry’s most prestigious awards. This all in-house-created campaign brought together deep expertise from right across our business and showed how we are able to break into new ground as a Group using the huge amount of talent we have within the business. Huge thanks to all the team for helping to make this happen.”

Going global? 3 MUST DO’s when assessing new markets for expansion and growth

Blog written by Greg Watts, CEO at Findr

You’ve established yourself in your first market, and now looking to expand to new ones.

When assessing new markets, what characteristics should companies look for and how should they prioritise them? 

What makes a good’ market and what makes for a risky one?

In this article, we’ll look at three key considerations for any business looking to enter new markets.

 

1) Assess the landscape

Do you know how many fintechs actively operate in the UK vs other markets across Europe?

In 2019, Demand Creation Partners undertook an assessment of the fintech landscape in Western Europe. It found that out of a pool of 7,200 companies, nearly 3,000 ”“ or 41% of the total ”“ are active in the UK.

Further, the data shows that 81% of all fintechs in Western Europe actively operate in just eight countries. This is illustrated in the breakdown below.

You can now start to get a picture of how the region is constructed, allowing you to make an initial assessment of the suitability of different markets.

It may make sense to target a market with less competition and potentially lower barriers to entry to create a compelling use case for future growth.

 

2) Identify your launch criteria

When considering options for expansion, it can be tempting to start with larger, more mature markets such as the UK or US.

Despite leaving the EU, the UK remains the leading fintech market in Europe, accounting for half the region’s VC deals ”” for example, the $80 million funding of BitFury and $110 million funding of Monzo.

However, even with significant investment, the UK can be a hard market to crack.

It’s mature, with just over half of all payments made via card. And even though the US and UK share the same language, there are subtle cultural differences which must be understood before engaging potential partners or signing up users.

To assess your chances of success in a particular market, it’s important to research and weigh up your launch criteria, such as:

 

  • Macroeconomic factors including GDP, economic performance and availability of government incentives.
  • Competitive landscape ”“ How many other fintechs operate locally? How do they differ from you? Do you offer a compelling advantage?
  • Barriers to entry ”“ Are these high or low? How will local legislation or regulation impact your launch?
  • Structure of the local retail and payments market ”“ Is it comprised of home-grown players you’ll need to establish partnerships with or global organisations with which you already have relationships?
  • Consumer behaviours and indicators, such as penetration of mobile phones and percentage of cash versus digital payments.

 

Knowing where you stand vis-à-vis these criteria will help you to realistically gauge and prioritize which markets to invest in.

 

3) Undertake a detailed market assessment

Now that you’ve prioritised your launch market(s), the next step is to undertake detailed assessments of each.

A market assessment is a comprehensive analysis of market trends, entry barriers, regulatory requirements, competition, risks, opportunities and available company resources. Whether you’re thinking of venturing into a new market or launching a new product, conducting a marketing assessment is a critical step in determining if there is a need or customer base for your product.

A well-executed market assessment will enable you to decide where to apply resources for the best return.

 

4) Develop a go-to-market plan

Now that you’ve prepared your market assessment, the next step is to develop a go-to-market plan to ensure successful entry. Some key considerations include:

  • Access to local talent is crucial. Recruit leaders and sales and marketing personnel with a thorough understanding of the market. Be aware, however, that securing the best people can be difficult for a lesser-known brand, so think carefully about your resourcing strategy. In the short term ”“ while momentum is being built and resources are constrained ”“ you can support functions such as product, legal, operations and technology from HQ.

 

  • Identify local partners who can help you raise awareness and introduce you to prospects ”“ for example, chambers of commerce, payment associations or retail consortiums. Who are the banks, acquirers, PSPs and retailers you need to cultivate relationships with? Can you leverage existing relationships? Choosing partners with a presence in your target markets will save you a lot of time.

 

  • Differentiate yourself from local players. Understand local issues and market nuances and develop a proposition that resonates. Ask local experts to review your collateral to ensure your messages are relevant and cannot be misinterpreted through subtleties of language.

 

  • Create an integrated demand generation plan to qualify opportunities for the sales team such as must-attend events where you can build relationships with target clients and partners.

 

  • Identify a local PR agency to support your launch and develop a map of local influencers to form relationships with ”“ for example, journalists, bankers and retailers.

 

Bringing it all together

When assessing markets for expansion, it can be tempting to prioritise more mature countries such as the UK or the US ”“ particularly when you’re under pressure from investors.

However, these markets often have higher barriers to entry, making them harder to crack.

The goal for any fintech must be to create one or more use cases that prove a solution works; that there’s genuine demand for it; and ultimately, that customers will use it. In order to create these success stories it may make sense to prioritise markets with lower barriers to entry, where the chances of success are higher.

Taking the time to identify criteria for market entry will allow you to focus your resources more effectively and accelerate your plans for growth.

Photo by fauxels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-person-using-laptop-3183174/

One year on, the FinTech Research & Innovation Roadmap drives FinTech growth in Scotland

A year on from publishing the FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap, FinTech Scotland announced today that it is on track to hit its targets for economic growth.

In March 2022, FinTech Scotland, the independent cluster body, published a strategic FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap, identifying industry priorities for the UK to accelerate its fintech ambition through research and development (R&D) and targeted innovation.

The Roadmap was developed in close coordination with fintech entrepreneurs, the financial services sector, academia, regulators, Government bodies and consumer groups, and provides a pathway and action-oriented framework to increase the positive impact of FinTech Innovation across Scotland and the UK.

The Roadmap also supports the recommendation in the Kalifa Review of UK Fintech, for increased R&D investment in fintech innovation to accelerate fintech cluster excellence, and was positively welcomed by Ron Kalifa, the financial services sector, UK and Scottish Government and the City of London Corporation.

The priorities laid out in the Roadmap centred on four strategic innovation themes:

  • Climate Finance
  • Open Finance Data
  • Payments and Transactions; and
  • Financial Regulation

Over a ten-year period, the ambition is to significantly increase fintech related jobs across Scotland and the UK, as well as produce an increase in economic gross value add (GVA) through fintech innovation.

One year on, industry-led collaborations have driven growing action against each of the strategic innovation themes. These collaborations, at the cutting edge of innovation, are driving results. Examples include:

  • Climate Finance
    • 100% increase in fintech enterprises in Scotland focused on climate finance
    • Accelerated fintech partnerships and fintech adoption through new innovation labs launched with Lloyds Banking Group and TSB with outcomes helping UK customers towards carbon efficiency
    • Climate finance enabled through cross-sector collaboration with Space Scotland, accelerating innovations in ESG using data from satellite sources

  • Open Finance Data
    • 26% increase in fintech enterprises developing innovative solutions using Open Banking
    • Accelerated fintech adoption and creation of commercial opportunities through the launch of Phoenix’s innovation forum to build greater engagement and support the well-being of its customers, driving forward greater financial inclusion
    • The Smart Data Foundry’s research on vulnerability in the pension market, the impact of late payments on the SME market, and on the net zero agenda, all enabled through Open Finance Data

  • Payments & Transactions
    • 19% increase in fintech enterprises in Scotland developing payment solutions
    • Investment of £94m into fintech enterprises focused on payment innovation in the last 12 months
    • Development of Cryptofinance, blockchain and Distributed ledger courses at leading Scottish universities

  • Financial regulation
    • 13% increase in fintech enterprises specialising financial regulation innovation
    • Investment of £83m into fintech enterprises focused on financial regulation innovation in the last 12 months
    • Confirmed government and industry support to accelerate innovation in financial regulation enabling the creation of the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab

Nicola Anderson, CEO of FinTech Scotland, said:

“By enabling collaborative innovation across the fintech ecosystem not just in Scotland but the whole of the UK and beyond, we can see how the FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap is already making a real difference ”“ helping businesses to build economic growth, create jobs, work through climate finance to enable a future net zero economy, and helping to alleviate the cost of living crisis.

“The FinTech R&I Roadmap demonstrates how collaboration and innovation can change people’s lives, driving positive outcomes for both business and citizens both in Scotland and across the UK.”

Charlotte Crosswell OBE, Chair of the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology, said:

“The UK Fintech Sector Review clearly set out recommendations to ensure the country retains its global leadership position in financial innovation. An important component of that success is increased investment in fintech, and ensuring the brightest minds across the UK are involved. It’s encouraging to see that in just one year, the FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap has enabled more of that important R&D collaboration and aligns with our approach at CFIT.”

Damian Nussbaum, Executive Director, Innovation and Growth City of London Corporation, said:

“FinTech continues to be a major success story for the UK, and its development is critical to ensuring the UK maintains its position as a global financial hub. The UK has a unique innovation ecosystem where research and development play a critical role. The Roadmap highlights the power and potential of that ecosystem and the transformative impact that collaboration in this sector can have across society. The City of London Corporation welcomes the progress made and we look forward to working with Scotland and the other nations and regions of the UK to drive further fintech growth.”

Jane Martin, Managing Director of Innovation and Investment at Scottish Enterprise, said:

“Strong, effective and purposeful collaboration between industry, academia and the public sector is key to delivering much needed innovation and growth for Scotland. The FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap is a demonstration of how collaborative action through purposeful strategic action can drive good economic outcomes and accelerate future growth.”

Catherine Martin, Vice Principal Corporate Services at the University of Edinburgh, said:

“As a founding partner of FinTech Scotland the University of Edinburgh is fully committed to the role R&D plays in developing fintech economic opportunities in Scotland and across the UK. Our experience and academic excellence in both disruptive technologies and other sectors has shown how strategic and purposeful partnerships can shape the future direction of vital industries and sectors in our economy and society. We’re committed to playing our role as a leader and as a collaborator in fintech and financial services innovation, pushing forward the FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap priorities”.

Pardeep Cassells, Head of Securities and Claims at AccessFintech, said:

“Fintech innovation can’t afford to slow down. Technologies advance fast, customer expectations faster and the need for a fairer, more inclusive and more sustainable financial sector is still to be fulfilled. The fintech community has welcomed the FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap. It focuses the mind, helping fintech businesses like AccessFintech accelerate through understanding the points of convergence across the sector which in turn enables more collaborations and innovations.”

Eleanor Shaw, Associate Principal at the University of Strathclyde, said:

“Strathclyde is proud of its role in shaping the future of fintech. It was one of the first universities to launch an MSc in fintech in the UK. Very early on we understood the importance of financial innovation to re-invent a sector that was built to benefit the many, not the few. R&D is key and the Roadmap is a fundamental tool. It’s been a key component in advancing our fintech strategy at Strathclyde. As a result we’re working in collaboration with FinTech Scotland, the University of Glasgow and the industry to establish the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab, to advance innovation in financial regulation.”

Frank Gauld, CEO at Smart Data Foundry, who sponsored the Roadmap, said:

“When it comes to data and innovation, the potential is exciting and unlimited. The FinTech R&I Roadmap focuses the mind and provides a clear industry view on innovation priorities. In the last year we’ve worked closely with FinTech Scotland, progressing research and innovation to unlock the power of financial data to improve people’s lives across society, the economy and the environment. Examples include our work with the FCA to innovate in the area of APP Fraud, research on consumer vulnerability in the pension market, the impact of late payments on the SME market, and working with Bankers for Net Zero to support the initiative to transition to a zero carbon economy. The insights are used across the industry and by regulators to change outcomes for people and businesses for the better”.