Boost for Scottish fintech cluster as Morgan Stanley enters collaboration with FinTech Scotland
FinTech Scotland, the cluster management body, has announced a new strategic partnership with Morgan Stanley, further strengthening the growth of the financial technology innovation and excellence across Scotland and accelerating the fast-growing sector’s global connectivity.
Morgan Stanley joins FinTech Scotland’s existing strategic partners including financial services firms, academia, technology solution providers and public sector organisations, to further enhance the development of Scotland’s fintech cluster through the support of strategic initiatives and the harnessing cross-regional collaboration.
For Morgan Stanley, a significant technology participant in Scotland, partnering with FinTech Scotland opens up new engagement opportunities with cutting-edge technology providers, a key part of Morgan Stanley’s fintech innovation strategy.
The collaboration will also support the firm’s Multicultural Innovation Lab and accelerator programme, that promotes financial inclusion and provides access to capital and expertise for early-stage technology and technology-enabled start-ups led by entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds.
This partnership demonstrates Morgan Stanley’s continued commitment to Glasgow and broadens its support of the Scottish technology ecosystem. The firm has a workforce in excess of 2,000 in Glasgow and recently announced further investment in local talent, providing career opportunities to over 200 young people as part of its largest graduate recruitment programme to date.
The investment bank will get involved in the collaborations that continue to progress the FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap, driving innovation in Financial Regulation, Climate, Open Finance and Payment & Transactions.
Commenting on this new partnership, Khalid Rafiq, Glasgow Head of Technology at Morgan Stanley said:
“We are thrilled to deepen our ties with the Scottish fintech community and to help foster the growing start-up ecosystem. Playing an active role within the Fintech Scotland cluster not only ensures we are fully supporting our local community, it gives us the chance to share our expertise and deepens our commitment to foster technology talent and diversity so as to drive innovation and business value in the buoyant Scottish marketplace.”
Nicola Anderson, Chief Executive at FinTech Scotland said:
“We’re looking forward to working with Morgan Stanley, building even more global connectivity as we continue to build, grow, and advance the FinTech Scotland Cluster. Plans for the year ahead will see more fintech innovation in capital markets and further support to enable greater diversity in fintech innovation. Morgan Stanley’s strategic engagement will enable further fintech innovation and opportunities in Glasgow which continues to see fintech growth, building Scotland’s national reputation for fintech innovation.”
Smart Data Foundry’s inaugural board announced
Smart Data Foundry just announced its inaugural board in order to accelerate its mission to solve societal issues though the use of financial data.
Member of the board are:
- Zachery Anderson, Chief Data Officer, NatWest Group
- Professor Kim Graham, Provost, University of Edinburgh
- Stephen Ingledew OBE, Chair, FinTech Scotland
- Fiona Duncan, Independent Strategic Advisor, the Promise
- Professor Chris Speed, Director, Edinburgh Futures Institute
They join Chair Dame Julia Unwin and Chief Executive Officer Frank Gauld.
Founded in 2020, the not-for-profit organisation, has delivered a number of groundbreaking data projects in collaboration with financial institutions including research into the impact of Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis on the over-50s.
Dame Julia Unwin commented:
“Our mission to unlock the power of data has struck a chord with leading figures in academia and Financial Services so much so they have been motivated to join us and bring about change. We have demonstrated that we can work collaboratively to create clarity through data which can inform policies and decision-making. We want to inspire financial innovation and with this team, I am confident this ambition can be realised.”
Stephen Ingledew OBE, Chair, FinTech Scotland adds
“Scotland has one of the fastest growing Fintech clusters in the UK, if not the world. Essential to financial innovation is the ability to access and share data, and the groundbreaking work that Smart Data Foundry is leading to create synthetic data unlocks the huge opportunities to inspire financial innovation that will benefit so many consumers and businesses.”
Zachery Anderson Chief Data Officer, NatWest Group said:
“NatWest Group were the first UK bank to partner with Smart Data Foundry and safely share data. Data helps us make better decisions and power research into areas that complement the wider NatWest purpose to champion potential, helping people, families and businesses to thrive.”
Frank Gauld says:
“This marks an important milestone in our history. As a young and growing business, to have the ability to attract such a talented board tells me we’re on the right track. 2022 was a year characterised by delivery for Smart Data Foundry.
“Our ground-breaking work with the FCA to generate and supply synthetic data to support their work to tackle the growing problem of Approved Push Payment (APP) Fraud is a great example of how we’re inspiring innovation in Financial Services. And we continued to support UK Government with a regularly updated COVID Economic Dashboard, creating an enduring record of how consumers saved, spent and earned before, during and after a pandemic. This level of insight is critical for policymakers to make decisions based on large-scale empirical data, no longer having to depend on survey data.”
Mistakes to avoid when scaling a fintech
Season 3, episode 1
Listen to the full episode here.
The fintech sector is growing at pace with more and more entrepreneurs launching their own innovative firm. Whilst starting a new company can be difficult, scaling one to the next stage isn’t any easier and comes with its own challenges. What makes a start-up different is its size, allowing it to be more nimble, faster and more agile which in turns allows for faster innovation. As it grows, employs more people, develops new operating models and uses more technologies, the danger is slowing down, increasing costs to deliver and less innovation. In this podcast we learn about those mistakes and pitfalls scaling fintechs can avoid. What are things to think about and when should you start planning? Guests: James Varga – CEO and Founder at DirectID David Spencer – Head of Analytics Sales, Merkle UK
Encompass’ new white paper unveils key regtech trends
Scotland-based fintech Encompass just published a landmark whitepaper authored by Dr. Henry Balani, Global Head of Industry and Regulatory Affairs at Encompass,
The document shows regulatory pressure concentrated on areas such as Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) and also an increase in fines against firms for non-compliance, especially crypto exchanges, brokers, asset managers and securities firms, and in the UK and Asia.
Interestingly the white paper also looks at the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the volatile and complex systems of sanctions this has created. These international issues are being exacerbated by internal factors, such as outdated technologies exposing firms to greater risk of non-compliance leading to failure to effectively identify suspicious customers. Internal inefficiencies are also impacting the speed at which regulated firms are reacting to change.
The findings really show how opting for KYC automation can help fight financial crime as the sophistication of perpetrators increase.
Looking at 2023, the white paper mentions likely increases in sanctions regimes and money laundering scandals which should engender new regulations with KYC becoming even more important.
Dr. Henry Balani, Global Head of Industry and Regulatory Affairs at Encompass, commented:
“It is likely that we will continue to see investigative and enforcement activity in all jurisdictions focus on the quality of systems and controls, as well as the true application of a risk-based approach to managing financial crime compliance.
“The ability for firms to demonstrate they have a robust KYC framework, with efficient and effective controls – and a well-defined and comprehensive approach to customer risk assessment – is critical to standing up to regulatory scrutiny.”
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-view-of-system-hacking-in-a-monitor-5380664/
Tech jobs amongst Scotland’s top 20 salaries increases in 2022
Every year, Hays publishes its Salary & Recruiting Trends guide. It includes over 10,000 salaries across 16 industry areas in all UK regions, including Scotland.
The guide shows that tech jobs still occupy high positions in the top 20, with cyber security analysts and software developers in third and fourth places respectively, with an increase of over 24%.
According to Hays Scotland director, Keith Mason, STEM skills (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) are still highly sought after with engineering projects in Scotland likely to be a significant economic driver going forward.
A new entry at number five, events managers can now enjoy a salary of around £37,000, which is a 23% increase in 2022.
“Conferences and corporate events are huge drivers for the hospitality industry,” says Mason.
“This is a sign of organisations wishing to re-establish connections with customers post-Covid. “A good events manager will act as an effective sales person for an organisation, helping them to both boost sales and increase brand visibility in a very competitive sector.”
IT and cyber security, sales, and diversity, equality and inclusion advisors also feature highly.
The overall salary increase in Scotland in 2022 was 5.7%, compared to 5.4% across the UK.
The full list of top 20 salary increases for 2022 is:
| Job | Industry | Salary (average 2022) | % Salary increase since 2021 | ||||||||
| 1. | Fabricator/Welder | Engineering Trade (Manufacturing) | £32,000 | 28% | |||||||
| 2. | Head of Tax/Director | Taxation (In-house) | £125,000 | 25% | |||||||
| 3. | Cyber Security Analyst | Technology (Cyber) | £56,000 | 24.4% | |||||||
| 4. | Product Manager | Technology (Software Development) | £62,000 | 24% | |||||||
| 5. | Events Manager | Marketing (Events) | £37,500 | 23% | |||||||
| 6. | Talent/Resourcing Advisor | HR (Recruitment & Resourcing) | £40,000 | 21.2% | |||||||
| 7. | Marketing Analyst/CRM Analyst | Marketing (Insight) | £35,000 | 20.7% | |||||||
| 8. | Head of Business Intelligence | Technology (Leadership) | £90,000 | 20% | |||||||
| 9. | Salesforce Solution Architect | Technology (CRM) | £105,000 | 19.3% | |||||||
| 10. | Import/Export Administrator | Business Support | £25,000 | 19% | |||||||
| 11. | Financial Planning & Analysis Manager | Accountancy & Finance | £72,500 | 18.9% | |||||||
| 12. | Head of IT Security | Technology (Leadership) | £95,000 | 18.8% | |||||||
| 13. | Engineering Operative | Engineering Trade (Manufacturing) | £26,000 | 18.2% | |||||||
| 14. | Manufacturing Manager | Engineering & Manufacturing (Defence) | £65,000 | 18.2% | |||||||
| 15. | Machine Learning Scientist | Technology (Data & Advanced Analytics) | £65,000 | 18.2% | |||||||
|
16. |
Digital Manager |
Marketing (Online & Digital) |
£60,000 |
17.6% |
| 17. | Automation Engineer | Engineering & Manufacturing (Defence) | £48,000 | 17.1% | |||||||
| 18. | Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Advisor | HR (DE&I) | £35,000 | 16.7% | |||||||
| 19. | Salesforce Project Manager | Technology (CRM) | £58,000 | 16% | |||||||
| 20. | Information Security Manager | Technology (Cyber) | £75,000 | 15.4% |
https://www.hays.co.uk/scotland
Photo by Vojtech Okenka: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-apple-magic-mouse-392018/
Codat recognised in Open Finance Global Rankings
Fintech Codat, part of the FinTech Scotland community, has been recognised in the Open Finance Global Rankings.
The rankings is released every year by Open Future World to highlight the organisations, countries and individuals who are leading progress in open finance around the world.
Codat, the fintech that helps companies build B2B solutions for SMEs using Open Banking, appeared in the top 20 of this year’s rankings. This is a real achievement when taking into account that Open Future World look at over 1,000 organisations from almost 80 countries.
Marie Walker, Open Future World co-founder commented:
“After a year that has seen plenty of challenges, the global rankings are a timely reminder of just how much the open finance movement is achieving ”“ and how much more there is to come,”
Rankings are calculated based on appearances in Open Future World’s widely-read Daily Edit of news, opinions, launches and raises.
Scotland’s fintech cluster fuelled by record number of SME firms and a 200% jump in investment funding
FinTech Scotland announces, on its fifth birthday, a further increase in the number of entrepreneurial fintech SME firms as well as a record-breaking new investment funding for the year.
In the last 12 months, Scottish fintechs received over £305m in funding supporting their growth and development, representing an increase of over 200% on the previous year
Over 60% of funding was raised by fintech SMEs focused on payment and data innovation, while other innovation categories raising significant investment were wealth management solutions and financial regulation.
In addition, 2022 saw the number of Scottish fintech SME firms increased to 211, a 13% increase over the year, driven by both new fintech start ups and international firms setting up in Scotland.
Commenting on another record-breaking year, Nicola Anderson, chief executive said:
“I am continuously inspired by the progress achieved by fintech entrepreneurs who continue to accelerate innovation, change and growth across the cluster. The record levels of investment in 2022, reinforces the value of of fintech innovation, and propels us to continue driving cluster excellence, build on the recognition the we achieved in 2022, and the role we play in contributing to the growing wider UK fintech ecosystem.
As we enter 2023, I am excited to be developing the opportunities with entrepreneurs, industry and academic partners, Scottish Enterprise, Innovate UK, Financial Conduct Authority along with other clusters across the UK as we execute our ground breaking Research and Innovation Roadmap”
Adrian Gillespie, Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise, added: “
The growth of Scotland’s fintech sector demonstrates what can be achieved when all partners work collaboratively to create an ecosystem that is attractive to companies and investors.
“FinTech Scotland has made an enormous contribution to developing our country’s fintech sector since its inception. We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with FinTech Scotland and all other stakeholders to deliver even more economic opportunities in this vibrant sector over the coming year.”
FinTech Scotland has confirmed for the coming year its strategy to continue leveraging cluster excellence credentials to drive innovation and build on the valuable collaboration with fintech centres around the UK.
This will also include a focus on supporting fintech SMEs scale-up through increased collaboration with the thirty FinTech Scotland partners as well as major economic initiatives with Smart Data Foundry and a new centre of excellence for innovation in financial regulation.
The Ardonagh Group selects fintech AutoRek
Scottish fintech AutoRek, just announced that The Ardonagh Group was the latest addition to their client list.
The UK’s largest independent insurance distribution platform selected AutoRek as they want to drive efficiency in key back and middle office Insurance Broker Accounting (IBA) processes using intelligent automation technology.
AutoRek will support two key areas of the IBA operations within the group:
- Automation of the statement reconciliation process (Over 2500 statements monthly, made up of over 400 different formats) against two key Policy Administration Systems (PAS), Acturis and OpenGI. AutoRek will then feed the output of reconciliations through the Ardonagh PAS systems so results can be posted back into systems and updated in records.
- Reconciliations in the Cash Posting and Allocation (CPA) team, including matching cash payments from banks, card transactions and premium credit against records held in the Ardonagh Acturis and OpenGI PAS systems. The output of these reconciliations will then be loaded back into the PAS systems and allocated out on a policy level, updating the systems.
Gordon McHarg, CEO at AutoRek, added,
“It is a huge success for AutoRek to have the calibre of a client such as The Ardonagh Group come on board. We see potential to work together over the coming years on many different projects.”
Piers Williams, Insurance Lead at AutoRek, added,
“We are delighted to be working with The Ardonagh Group and helping the business achieve its objectives in the coming years. AutoRek continues to grow its insurance presence quickly, and it is great to see that our No Code intelligent automation solution continues to improve back and middle office financial operations processes while increasing operational efficiency.”
Paula Jones, Head of IREC at Ardonagh Advisory, added,
“The IREC solution and build with AutoRek will revolutionise the end-to-end process within The Ardonagh Group. Enabling our fast-growing business through organic growth and the targeted acquisition plans to integrate the key finance operations smoothly and efficiently”.
Bari Irving-Philips, Head of IBA and Client Money at Ardonagh Advisory, added,
“It is an exciting time for The Ardonagh Group to be working with AutoRek. The AutoRek platform and No Code technology will enable the Client Money function to work smarter and more intelligently; further enhancing the contribution that the function brings to the Group and our Clients & Insurers.”
Tackling security and trust in digital payments
Fintech Tables are back for their second event. Sponsored by Pinsent Masons it focusses on payment, one of the 4 key themes highlighted in the FinTech Scotland Research & Innovation Roadmap.
Those events, organised by BDM Media, provide a platform for discussion to support developments and initiatives around the four key pillars of the Roadmap; financial regulation, payments & transactions, climate finance, and open finance data.
This second event focusses on payments and transactions and more specifically about how organisations can build security and trust in digital payments.
Payments has always been the leading area of innovation for fintech companies in Scotland utilising innovations such as open banking and embedded payments making it faster and more convenient to pay and transfer money both locally and globally.
As digital payments continue to grow in the UK and around the world, so do online fraud, digital crime and cyber attacks with over £1.2 billion through fraud and scams in 2019.
This event will welcome many guests including:
- Lloyds Banking Group
- Eeden Bull
- BR-DGE,
- Transfer Mate
- Occamsec
- Police Scotland
- Scottish Business Resilience Centre
- The Payment Systems Regulator.
The group will consider the exciting opportunities offered by digital payments alongside the strategies that financial services organisations need to deploy in order to build and maintain security and trust in these innovative solutions.
More details on the event and others in the series can be found at www.fintech-tables.com
Fintech and space: Innovation examples
Season 2, episode 8
Listen to the full episode here.
Fintech innovation is powered by data. New solutions appear every day, always consuming new data to develop new services to help people and organisations deal with money. Innovators are constantly in search for new data sources. The Scottish space sector has developed to be one of the largest in Europe. This industry, thanks to technology advances, can generate an incredible amount of data, from climate data to supply chain data, and much more., The fintech sector in Scotland is developing rapidly alongside an already very well-established financial sector. As new innovative solutions require more and more data, we’ve turned to the sky to understand how earth observation type data can help leverage the fintech opportunity. Guests: Christophe Christiaen – the Data, Innovation and Impact Lead within the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group Robin Sampson – CEO and founder at Trade In Space