Customer Experience and Fintech
Season 1, episode 10
Listen to the full episode here.
The Digital Banking Report Research by The Financial Brand shows that Customer Experience is the number 2 priority (just after digital transformation) for financial institution around the globe.
New entrants and changing customer expectations have fuelled this need for a greater focus on customer led design. COVID-19 has accelerated this trend by requiring companies to adapt to a fully digital world with no branches for customers to go to and the need to make customer support more efficient for staff working from home.
In this new episode we’ll explore why the focus on CX is so important; if new innovative firms still have the edge on their incumbent counterparts and what future trends we need to watch out for.
Participants
Andrew Duncan – CEO of fintech SOAR
Chris Speed – Professor of Design Informatics at the University of Edinburgh
Lotta Lindstrand – Senior CRO Analyst at Merkle EMEA
UK Government Ministers visit Scotland’s thriving fintech community
To recognise the global impact of Scotland’s growing fintech sector, FinTech Scotland hosted a visit by Secretary of State for Trade, Liz Truss and Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack on Tuesday 20th July, at the Bayes Centre, University of Edinburgh.
Financial technology (“fintech”) uses digital and data driven innovation to improve and enhance financial services, both for businesses and individuals and is making a significant contribution to innovation and the broader economy.
For example, the collaboration between the University of Edinburgh, FinTech Scotland and industry participants on innovative financial technology initiatives has enabled Scotland to be the home to the Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence as well as FinTech Scotland being recognised as the UK’s first accredited fintech cluster.
The meeting at the Bayes Centre provided an opportunity for UK Government ministers to meet with a number of key entrepreneurs from leading firms from the Fintech Scotland community such as Direct ID, Modulr, FreeAgent, Float, EedenBull and Trace AI
Liz Truss, International Trade Secretary, said:
“The UK is a world-leader in FinTech and that’s why we’re breaking down barriers, pushing new frontiers in our free trade agreements and opening up markets to boost this growing industry.
“From Australia to Singapore, we are using our independent trade policy to drive foreign investment into UK FinTech and increase export opportunities worldwide.
“Scotland’s FinTech sector is thriving, and I want to ensure that we fuel the future global growth opportunities for FinTech businesses across the UK.”
Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack said:
“As home to 180 fintech businesses, Scotland is right at the heart of exciting developments as the UK becomes a major force within the global sector. Collaboration between academia, industry and government will ensure that Scottish fintech has a bright future ahead.
“It was great to meet with some of the key people behind the industry’s growing success, and I look forward to seeing how their ambition and innovation will further enhance the profile of Scotland and the whole UK within the global fintech community.”
Stephen Ingledew, Executive Chair of FinTech Scotland, who hosted the ministerial visit said:
“This visit demonstrated how collaborative leadership by entrepreneurs, large enterprises, academia and government can make a significant impact in delivering impactful fintech innovation which will shape the future economy and people’s lives both in the UK and internationally. Our forthcoming fintech research and innovation roadmap will highlight how we will build on momentum created and foster further collaboration with the regional fintech hubs across the UK.”
Peter Mathieson, Principal of the University of Edinburgh, welcomed the Ministers to the Bayes Centre and commented:
“The University has a global reputation for ground-breaking innovation and the Bayes Centre is a great example of creating a creative and collaborative environment delivering new opportunities in data, artificial intelligence and robotics in the emerging new sectors such as fintech”
The Ministerial visit coincides with the unveiling of plans for Scotland’s FinTech Festival in September which will showcase financial innovation from across the UK highlighting progress made since the HM Treasury commission Fintech Sector Review by Ron Kalifa OBE was released in March this year.
The Fintech Festival, now in its fourth year, will be a diverse range of 50 plus events and activities taking place over four weeks with fintech leaders and entrepreneurs attending from the UK and virtually from around the world.
The Festival will include major conferences in Edinburgh and Glasgow with examples of innovation from Scotland and the UK amongst many other global fintech leaders.
Fintechs and cybersecurity
Season 1, episode 9
Listen to the full episode here.
According to the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) cyberthreats are on the rise, with more and more Phishing attempts, Identity Theft, Ransomware. The COVID-19 seems to have been an accelerant with attacks on homes, businesses, governments and critical infrastructure. In this podcast we’ll discuss the issue with cybersecurity experts. What are the current threats and those to watch out for in the next few years? What are the new solutions being developed by innovative firms to fight those threats? We’ll ask ourselves if fintech firms, that are introducing new technologies and solutions to the financial services sector, are well prepared to face cyberthreats.
DirectID and Doconomy partner on climate functionality
FinTech DirectID have just entered a collaboration agreement with pioneering Swedish impact tech company Doconomy.
Doconomy is an impact-tech company that uses the power of data raise awareness of the impact of consumption whilst offering solutions to reduce it. With Doconomy users can understand and drive positive movement to tackle climate change.
DirectID is the world’s expert in global credit risk enabled by the usage of real-time bank data. They tackle current problems found within the credit risk lifecycle:
- Affordability
- Income and account verification
- Emerging financial distress
- Spend categorisation & classification
Doconomy and DirectID have decided to partner to bring climate functionality to the masses, helping consumers make more informed decisions and encourage a more sustainable lifestyle.
This is another great example of how using bank data can help develop new innovative solutions beyond greater access to financial products.
James Varga, CEO of DirectID, said:
“As we continue to grow our reach and capability, having a trusted set of partners is critical to our future success. We are delighted to have signed this agreement with Doconomy.
“We are increasingly seeing new and diverse ways that bank data can support use cases across industry and sector. Using bank data to help us to understand business and consumer’s environmental impact is yet one more way that DirectID’s bank data expertise can support another tech company.”
Mathias Wikström, CEO of Doconomy, said:
“With DirectID joining us in shaping a new normal based on impact transaparency, we are excited to see additional opportunities for continuous development of tools in support of climate action. DirectID bring equal amounts of expertise and passion to the table and we are excited to team up on the most important challenge of all.”
Women Driving Fintech
Season 1, episode 8
Listen to the full episode here.
Saying that women are under-represented in fintech is an understatement. According to a 2018 LendIt survey, only 37 per cent of fintech employees are female, with representation dropping to just 19 per cent at C-suite level.
There are however some great success stories. Anne Boden, CEO at Starling Bank or closer to home Jude Cook, CEO and co-founder at ShareIn, Loral and Eishel Quinn at Sustainably and with us today Ana Galitsyna co-founder at fintech Baby Ready.
Whilst not being the majority, they are role models of leadership and real examples of what the “women difference” means in terms of entrepreneurship.
If fintech had a gender it would probably be female (in French it is “une fintech”), a movement destined to change the financial sector as we know it. Fintech is about democratisation, it is about better outcome for citizens and companies, empathy for customer problems and about inclusion; qualities that females have in abundance and are using to develop new innovative businesses.
In this episode we are joined by:
Ana Galitsyna – Co-founder at fintech Baby Ready
Yvonne Dunn – Partner at Pinsent Masons
Sarah Ronald – Founder at Nile HQ and investor at ParEquity
Fintech to fight climate change
Season 1, episode 7
Listen to the full episode here.
With COP26 taking place in Glasgow later this year, there is a real focus on the climate change issue. As all participating countries are asked to submit their new long-term goals to address the global climate emergency, we are asking ourselves today how fintech can participate in this global movement.
The United Nations, in their Principles for Responsible Banking, have recognised Financial Services as one of the components that will help tackle climate change.
Fintech, as a movement, is already trying to tackle economic and societal issues such as financial inclusion, better financial outcomes, better money management tools, etc. Can it also provide new innovative solution to combat climate change?
With our distinguished guests we’ll explore the role fintech can and ought to play in the race to save the planet. Will touch on some themes such as ESG, digital currencies and much more
Guests:
Daniel Broby – Director at the Centre for Financial Regulation and Innovation at Strathclyde Business School
Zee West – Co-founder at Picnic Bank
Natalie Jackson – Consultant at the Global Ethical Finance Initiative
Survey – FinTech Scotland Research & Innovation roadmap
Whitecap Consulting is supporting FinTech Scotland in the development of a ten-year research and innovation roadmap to support the growth of Scotland’s digital economy and the wider development of FinTech innovation across the UK.
This roadmap will build on the work of FinTech Scotland to date, and inform priority focus research themes and the unmet needs of consumers, businesses and society.
This survey will help us identify appropriate opportunities for cross-sector enablement of FinTech innovations to achieve the UK’s overall industrial strategy.
Take the survey
Thank you for your participation. Any answers you give in this online survey may be attributed to individuals or organisations within the report, however only with your prior approval.
Fintech, a force for good?
Season 1, episode 6
Listen to the full episode here.
Fintech is a movement that focusses on customer outcomes, transparency, and democratisation of the financial services sector. Using data and technology, fintech firms are looking at tackling societal and economic issues. Together with our guest we’ll discuss the role of fintech in tomorrow’s world. With Duncan Cockburn, Founder & CEO at OneBanks, Eishel Quinn, Co-founder & Chief Product Officer at Sustainably and Dominic Chalmers, Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow Adam Smith Business School, Convenor of the MSc Financial Technology
Innovations in the world of payments
Season 1, episode 5
Listen to the full episode here.
The world of payment is being disrupted like never before, accelerated, in part, by the recent economic and societal changed imposed by COVID19.
Contactless payments, rise in online transactions coupled with increased concerns around fraud and cybersecurity mean that the sector is undergoing some unprecedented changes.
In this episode we explore what those changes mean in terms of innovation and from a regulation perspective with 3 fantastic guests:
Genevieve Marjoribanks, Head of Policy and ExCo member at Payment Systems Regulator
Myles Stephenson, Chief Executive at Modulr
Brian Coburn, CEO at Br-dge
Fintech Innovation Roadmap to drive a digital enabled net zero economic recovery
FinTech Scotland is developing a ten-year business-led research and innovation roadmap which will support the growth of Scotland’s digital economy and development of fintech innovation across the UK.
This implements one of the recommendations highlighted in the recent Kalifa FinTech Sector Review which referenced Scotland as the second largest fintech cluster in the UK and the opportunity to build on this position through strategic research and innovation.
The roadmap will advance the FinTech Scotland Cluster in a number of ways, including
- Develop priority innovation themes such as financial inclusion, net zero and well-being
- Align research strengths and capabilities with innovation priorities and drive efficiencies
- Enhance Scotland’s national and global reputation for fintech innovation
- Shape innovation challenges and influence future Government Innovation strategies
The roadmap is being developed in collaboration with the Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence (GOFCoE) and together they have appointed Whitecap Consulting to progress the initiative. The work builds on the FinTech Scotland “Research and Innovation for UK FinTech” report published in January 2021 as well as the academic-led research and innovation roadmap recently developed by the Edinburgh Futures Institute at the University of Edinburgh in collaboration with regional Universities.
Nicola Anderson chief executive of FinTech Scotland said
“The roadmap will further advance and grow Scotland’s fintech Cluster and it will bring insight and specific focus to accelerate fintech Innovation. Working with Whitecap consulting and across the Cluster we will identify a suite of progressive actions that will enable positive economic outcomes”.
Kevin Collins, chief executive of the Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence said
“We’re delighted to be working with FinTech Scotland and Whitecap Consulting on this roadmap and is essential to ensuring we prioritise the needs of financial and fintech businesses, including key skills gaps as well as provide an opportunity to align businesses and academics effectively.”
Richard Coates, Managing Director of Whitecap Consulting, says:
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work alongside FinTech Scotland and the GOFCoE team on this interesting project. The development of FinTech Scotland’s Research & Innovation roadmap calls for us to utilise a combination of our core strength in strategy and planning, our extensive work across the UK’s regional FinTech ecosystems, and our experience working with and connecting key stakeholders across public, private and higher education organisations.”