Scottish fintech founder finalist at Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2022

Scottish fintech entrepreneur Craig Forsythe has just been named as a finalist in the Great British Entrepreneur Awards.

He founded his company,GiftRound, to allow people to group-collect money for gifts so that they can celebrate together and show that they care through the magic of group gifts.

Craig is one of the shortlisted business leaders from across the nation to have been selected out of over 5,300 entrants – the most the awards has ever had.

The Awards recognises entrepreneurs based on their journey and resilience. 12 awards will be handed out per region for categories including Disruptor of the Year, Entrepreneur for Good Award, and the Great British Entrepreneur of the Year. Notable winners from previous years include Social Chain founder Steven Bartlett, who went on to become the youngest ever investor on BBC’s Dragon’s Den.

Craig said:

“Being shortlisted came as a total surprise! It’s great to get some recognition for the GiftRound team for all the hard work that has gone into enabling GiftRound to help so many teams and people and celebrate together and show they care. “

The winners will be announced at a Grand Final, held at the Grosvenor Hotel in London on 21st November.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards. The alumni has collectively generated over £30 billion in revenue and employed more than 450,000 people.

To mark the milestone year for the programme, entrants will have the chance to win over £30,000 worth of marketing support and a tree will be planted for every application submitted with the support of Ecologi.

Founder of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, Francesca James said:

“From the pandemic to the ongoing cost of living crisis, business owners haven’t had it easy over the past few years, but it’s a testament to the tenacity and perseverance of these entrepreneurs that they have continued on their path and refused to give in.

“This year’s finalists should be so proud of what they’ve already achieved both in business and in being shortlisted for an award – we’re looking forward to seeing everyone at the Finals and unveiling the winners!”

Anne Boden MBE, Founder of Starling Bank, headline partner of the Awards, said:

“Congratulations to all those businesses who have made the shortlist. It’s great to see the passion, resilience and amazing ingenuity from entrepreneurs across so many categories.”

To book your place at the Grand Final in London on 21st November, you can go to greatbritishentrepreneurawards.com

For the full list of finalists, visit greatbritishentrepreneurawards.com

DirectID Announce Partnership With Payments firm Shieldpay

Scottish fintech and global credit and risk specialists DirectID just announced a partnership with Shieldpay, the secure digital payments market leader.

the partnership will see Shieldpay payments engine use DirectID’s open banking-powered bank account verification.

Customers will be able to transfer funds online with digital escrow and trust services benefiting from seamless identity verification during transfers, streamlining the Shieldpay customer experience without sacrificing any measure of security, bringing customers a frictionless payments journey at every step.

The professional services firms relying on Shieldpay to safely transfer millions of pounds in client fees and project finances, to the marketplaces bringing more security and digital escrow (fund holding) services to their buyers and sellers, can now benefit from DirectID’s 13,000+ bank connections.

James Stubbs, Financial Crime Systems, SPG, comments:

We’re excited and intrigued by the possibilities of what DirectID and Shieldpay can bring to the table for our customers. Blending frictionless account verification in a customers’ own banking environment with safer online payment solutions for marketplaces will only help us on our mission to facilitate a new era of trust online.

Clare McCaffery, Chief Commercial Officer, DirectID comments:

Verifying that the bank account details provided match those on file is one of the most proven and effective use-cases for Open Banking. I’m delighted Shieldpay have chosen DirectID to safely verify account ownership for digital escrow and trust services. We’re delighted to launch and look forward to working with Shieldpay on a variety of use cases in the future.

The role of fintech in fighting the cost-of-living crisis

Season 2, episode 3

Listen to the full episode here.

According to the Office for National Statistics, 87% of adults in the UK reported an increase in their cost of living in April 2022.

The Office for Budget Responsibility expects household incomes after tax and adjusted for inflation to start falling in Q2 2022 and not recover until Q3 2024.Since Russia invaded Ukraine, economic forecasters have raised their expectations for consumer price inflation, not just in the near term but that it will be higher for longer.On 5 May, the Bank of England forecasted inflation to peak “at slightly over 10% in 2022 Q4, which would be the highest rate since 1982”.

In this podcast we ask ourselves what the financial sector can do to help people and businesses. How can collaboration between fintechs, established firms and support organisation can improve outcomes for individuals and companies

This podcast will also be an opportunity to announce the launch of the ⁠fintech innovation labs at TSB⁠.

Participants

Sharon MacPherson – CEO at Scotcash

Jason Wilkinson Brown – Head of Partnerships & Open Banking at TSB

Iain Niblock – Head of Product at ClearScore

Autorek appoints new CTO

AutoRek has just announced the appointment of its new CTO, Andrew Elmore, former PagoFX and C24 Technologies.

Andrew has extensive financial services knowledge gained from previous roles including Head of Technical Architecture at PagoNxt, VP Engineering at Velo Payments and heading up development at SmartStream.

Elmore will look after all technology activities, from product definition and implementation, through to the 24×365 operation of the cloud reconciliation service.

He will also help the fintech to scale, ensuring high quality and reliability standards of services while increasing the delivery pace and capacity.

Gordon McHarg, AutoRek’s CEO, commented:

“AutoRek’s rapid growth over the past few years has been very exciting and with continued plans for recruitment and expansion, we are delighted to have Andrew Elmore join us with his past experience to help drive the company in the direction we have set out.”

Andrew Elmore, CTO at AutoRek commented:

“I am very excited to join AutoRek as part of the next stage of their exciting growth. AutoRek’s broad product functionality, market-leading matching engine, domain expertise and cloud platform are dramatically reducing the time and cost for clients to improve their Straight Through Processing (STP) and operational efficiency. Combined with a relentless focus on customer success, I believe AutoRek will continue to be the best choice for traditional and next-gen financial institutions alike.”

Over 13% of all Scottish jobs in digital sector

13.22% of jobs in Scotland are in the digital sector according to numbers by Adzuna analysed by Tech Nation for the UK’s Digital Economy Council.

Since January 2022, there have been over 20,000 tech roles advertised in Scotland, with average advertised salaries hitting £52,893 across the country.

Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries said:

“The UK is enjoying a golden age in tech. Not only are we one of the best places in the world to start digital businesses, but there are countless opportunities for people to enter the sector and flourish in their career.

“We’re working hard to open doors for people from all walks of life so that they can gain the skills and knowledge needed to make the most of our booming tech industry.”

The need for upskilling

A survey by Tech Nation and YouGov showed that having tech skills was essential for job security and pay increase . During the COVID pandemic an increased number of people have chosen to learn coding, cloud technologies or data visualisation skills.

Companies are also focussing on on-the-job training for future tech talents and tech companies like Amazon and Google have also launched digital skills programmes to train employees across the UK.

Software developers and cyber professionals in high demand

Software development are the most sought after roles in the UK and this is for both tech and non tech businesses.

Other in-demand jobs include business analysts (+650% compared to 2019), data analysts (+520%) and product managers (+710%). Business analysts are now the second most in-demand tech role in the UK, having overtaken engineers.

Top 10 available UK tech jobs

Software developer
Business analyst
Java developer
DevOps engineer
Project manager
Engineer
Data analyst
Product manager
Consultant
IT system architect

The prevalence of data

Data is now the number one desired skill in UK tech with a 1006% increase in demand for data skills since 2019.

Dr George Windsor, Data and Research Director at Tech Nation, said:

“The UK is continuing to be the leading light for tech in Europe and the scale of exciting job opportunities across the country is a reflection of that. It’s interesting to see how companies are responding to changing challenges, such as the rise in the demand for data skills and an increase in security skills across the board. It’s not just technical skills that can make a difference – but communication and management experience are increasingly important too. For anyone looking to enter this fast-paced and innovative industry, there is a role for you if you want it.”

Paul Lewis, chief customer officer at Adzuna, said:

“UK tech has consistently been one of the fastest-growing industries for job opportunities over the past few years as companies compete for skilled staff to enable them to grow in a competitive environment. Though we are starting to see the impact of the wider slowdown begin to affect the wider tech landscape, the rapid rise in digital tools and services since 2020 means that roles for software developers remain the most in-demand by companies across the board. Security specialists are also in hot demand as companies adapt to changing business challenges like increased cyber threats.”

Euan Blair, CEO and founder of Multiverse, said: “

The shortage of tech skills is a huge challenge to companies everywhere, but it also means incredible opportunities are being opened up to well-paid, long-term careers. As a tech industry we’ve a duty to make sure these jobs are accessible to talented people regardless of background or financial circumstances. We’ve built an outstanding alternative to university to deliver on exactly this goal. Ultimately whether it’s a start-up or a large corporate, the companies that get their skills pipelines right will have an enormous competitive advantage.”

Photo by Vojtech Okenka

New appointments at Fintech Encompass to drive growth

Scotland-based Encompass Corporation, the leading Know Your Customer (KYC) automation platform, just announced the appointment of a new global sales leadership team to power its growth

To accompany the company’s very impressive growth, Bob DeLaney is joining as Head of Sales, UK and Ireland. Prior to this new role he occupied senior positions at Pega, Alacra and LexisNexis, among others.

Phillip Sertel will focus on the European market, bringing with him over 25 years of experience in the industry acquired at Oracle and FICO, where he was Vice President & Managing Director for Continental Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

Some internal changes were also announced with Ed Lloyd becoming VP of Enterprise Sales, David Williams will continue to lead regional business, while Howard Dilworth heads up the North America sales arm, which has quickly expanded since Encompass entered the US market in late 2021.

Steve Hadaway, Chief Revenue Officer, Encompass, said:

“I am delighted to appoint two highly experienced and respected figures in Bob and Phillip to crucial roles, further strengthening an already impressive regional leadership team.

“We have built a platform that truly makes a difference, helping banks fight financial crime, ensure compliance and deliver enhanced customer experience, and, with these seasoned professionals driving our teams forward, I know we will continue to go from strength to strength.

“This is undoubtedly a pivotal time in our journey, and we look forward to working to develop and further our offering for customers in the months ahead.”

Scottish fintech Zumo gets funding to decarbonise crypto

Scottish Fintech Zumo, just completed its Zero Hero pilot project, a live trial to buy Renewable Energy Certificates to compensate the electricity usage of bitcoin bought via the Zumo app.

During this trial, a total of 850 megawatt-hours of electricity was compensated, the equivalent of an electric vehicle for over three million miles.

This is very important with 84% of customers feeling that the issue of environmental sustainability in crypto paramount and that they are more likely to use a crypto wallet that participate in reducing crypto’s environmental impact.

The results of this trial are available at ”“ Decarbonising Crypto: Towards Practical Solutions’

Innovate UK just awarded Zumo and Zero Labs a grant to further fund research into the decarbonisation of crypto. This RenewableCrypto project starts this month with a clear objective of finding practical ways in which wallets and platforms can scale the use of renewable energy.

Doug Miller, Co-Founder, Zero Labs, said:

“Zumo is demonstrating leadership in the Crypto Climate Accord (CCA) community in two ways: leading dialogues about how to estimate the energy use of BTC holdings and procuring clean energy to power Zumo platform customers’ holdings in a verifiable way. Zero Labs is thrilled to support Zumo with scaling a solution across its growing customer base to increase demand for clean energy around the globe and convert the wider crypto industry into a newfound source of demand for clean energy in voluntary markets.”

Kirsteen Harrison, Environmental and Sustainability Adviser, Zumo, said:

“The results of our Zero Hero pilot project are hugely encouraging, showing both what is possible and a significant appetite from customers for clean energy solutions. But this is just the beginning, and the story can only continue through the collaboration of all market participants ”“ miners, platforms and end users ”“ within the crypto sector. We hope that our new report will help continue to shift the dial from talk towards action.”

“Along with our partners at Zero Labs, we’re aiming to lead this charge and explore new, digital-led solutions that remove practical barriers to voluntary renewables procurement and verifying green credentials. With electricity being the most significant part of crypto’s carbon footprint, we have a unique opportunity as a sector to rapidly decarbonise.”

Fintech Innovation – the need for collaboration

Season 2, episode 2

Listen to the full episode here.

Whilst the fintech movement often makes headlines with those firms that are trying to replace traditional financial institutions, there are many more fintech firms out there trying to work, collaborate or sell to those incumbents to help them deliver better outcomes to their customers.

In this podcast we discuss the opportunities for increased collaboration and some of the challenges? Has the pandemic changed the state of play and what are the solutions to accelerate fintech adoption by historical brands?

This podcast will also be an opportunity to announce the launch of the fintech innovation forum at Phoenix.

Guests:

Josif Grace – CEO at Legado

Kevin Spence – Director Financial Services, Scotland & Client Partner

Andy Young – Group Head of Digital & UX at Phoenix Group

Encompass appoints renowned KYC experts

Scotland based fintech Encompass Corporation announced the appointment of senior industry experts to help banks get the benefits of automation initiatives.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation. Companies have been eager to reduce onboarding costs and improve customer experience but still need help to build the foundations to achieve this goal.

The newly appointed Transformation Directors will offer practical support and advice that allows Encompass’ customers to drive change and impactful adoption of KYC automation within their organisations.

The new team includes former Barclays senior executive Howard Wimpory who led major global projects, served as a Managing Director within the bank, leading the Group Financial Crime function. He also authored a new whitepaper for Encompass, titled Embracing KYC Transformation’.

Also joining the team, Jo Scanlan, a recognised leader with experience in leading banks Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Macquarie Bank, Westpac and ANZ. She has led global middle office and operations, overseeing a range of areas, including front office and client support, client onboarding, and regulatory compliance and reporting.

Finally, Darren Marion, also joins the team, bringing his experience acquired within several high-profile investment banks, such as UBS, Deutsche Bank, and Citigroup.

Nicola Pickering, VP, Customer Success and Delivery, Encompass, said:

“We are passionate about ensuring that the benefits of investing in our KYC automation are realised by our customers. This requires building partnerships and transformation strategies that encompass people, process, and technology. It has been great to hear directly from customers how valuable our team’s direction and thought leadership has been in navigating KYC transformational change.”

AG Elevate launches accelerator programme

Addleshaw Goddard just launched its 5th AG Elevate programme ”“ an accelerator for those looking to become the next tech-unicorn.

This fast-track 10-month programme is designed to accelerate the growth of tech businesses in all sectors of the economy helping them with legal challenges that can arise as they grow.

Previous AG Elevate cohorts have included Scottish fintechs Amiqus, Trace and OBR.

The programme is designed, developed and delivered by AG‘s expert lawyers, who will provide access to legal advice, legal and business mentors and networks across the globe.

Elvan Hussein, Partner and co-programme lead at Addleshaw Goddard, said:

“We have emerged from the pandemic into a different environment, with tech integrated in all aspects of our lives and this continues to both offer opportunities for high growth and the chance for tech businesses to play a huge part in rebuilding and growing our economies wherever they are based.”

“AG Elevate is tried and tested and we understand what matters most to these businesses, and what challenges they will inevitably face. Our mentors have the specialist sector knowledge to bring tangible added value to the relationships with their Elevate members, beyond their undoubted legal expertise and we can’t wait to meet our new cohort.”

To qualify for consideration for a place on the programme, businesses need to have existing plans for high–growth and have received external funding.

Interested parties can apply at www.addleshawgoddard.com/en/ag–elevate/ until the end of May 2022.