Aveni extends market leading wealth and compliance platform into consumer agentic AI for financial services
£12m investment accelerates launch of Agent Assure, closing the AI agent safety gap
Aveni, the UK’s leading AI fintech specialist in wealth management, financial advice and banking, today announced a £12 million funding round led by PXN Ventures, the UK’s fastest-growing venture and investments firm outside London and the South East, and supported by existing investors Puma Growth Partners, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and Scottish Enterprise. The investment will accelerate development of Aveni’s Unified Assurance Platform (UAP) and the launch of its new Agent Assure and Agent Approve solutions, purpose-built to assess the conduct risk of AI agents that interact with consumers in financial services.
Aveni is the established market leader in AI adoption across UK wealth and banking, with over seven years of live deployments and product development. Its products Aveni Assist, an AI productivity solution for advisers and operations teams, and Aveni Detect, its AI compliance monitoring tool, are deployed across the UK’s leading banks, wealth managers and financial advisers. Underpinning both is FinLLM, Aveni’s proprietary suite of specialist small language models built for and utilising UK financial services data.
Agentic AI adoption in financial services is accelerating, but deployment at scale is being held back by a critical gap in assurance. With just 2% of firms reporting adequate AI guardrails, the absence of robust, regulated oversight for AI agents that interact directly with consumers is the number one challenge for the industry. Regulators are clear that the mode of engagement, human or machine, is secondary to consumer outcomes, which must be assessed consistently across all interactions.
Agent Assure directly addresses this gap. A natural extension of the Aveni Detect proposition, it enables firms to monitor and manage the conduct risk of AI agents alongside human interactions, in a single unified view. Together with Aveni Assist, Aveni Detect and the new Agent Approve solution, this Assure forms the Unified Assurance Platform: the financial service industry’s first comprehensive framework for assuring both human and agent interactions with consumers at scale.
Aveni is a participant in the FCA’s Supercharged Sandbox programme and has established the Agent Assurance Expert Council to support development of responsible AI governance frameworks. The company is working directly with regulators and industry bodies to shape the emerging standards for AI in financial services.
Joseph Twigg, CEO of Aveni, said: “The continued confidence shown by our existing investors is a powerful endorsement of the direction we’re taking. We have spent seven years building the models, the experience and the regulatory relationships that make us uniquely qualified to solve the hardest problem in AI adoption right now: how do you assure the conduct of an AI agent interacting with a real consumer? Agent Assure is our answer — and this investment accelerates our ability to deliver our full platform at scale.”
Alastair Moore at PXN Ventures, said: “Aveni is fast becoming financial advisers’ go-to tool for helping them leverage AI in a safe and appropriate way. The team now has seven years of live deployments and proprietary models built within the UK financial services sector. Their infrastructure is answering one of the biggest questions in AI adoption: how to manage real client interactions and build trust, so advisers can focus on what they do best. We’re proud to support Aveni through multiple PXN funds, including the Praetura Growth VCT, as they continue their growth journey and demonstrate the world-class fintech capabilities of the North of the UK.”
Ben Leslie, Investment Director, Puma Growth Partners, commented: “The impact Aveni is making in deploying AI into UK financial services is already significant, and we continue to see a substantial growth opportunity ahead. With agentic AI adoption accelerating and regulators rightly focused on consistent consumer outcomes, robust assurance for AI agents is rapidly becoming a core requirement for the sector. As a standout example of Scotland’s growing strength as a technology hub, Aveni is well placed to lead this next phase. We are delighted to invest again from our Scotland office to support Joseph, Jamie, Professor Lexi Birch and the wider team as they scale the Unified Assurance Platform and launch Agent Assure.”
Kirsty Rutter, Fintech Investment Director at Lloyds Banking Group, said: “Agentic AI represents a significant opportunity for financial services to enhance customer experience through more personalised interactions. Aveni is helping firms adopt this technology in a safe and responsible way. We’re pleased to continue supporting Aveni’s ongoing development through investment and partnership.”
The continued backing of existing investors reflects confidence in Aveni’s roadmap and market position. PXN Ventures led the round alongside Puma Growth Partners, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and Scottish Enterprise.
Scotland invests £3.18m to fast‑track fintech growth, jobs and collaborative innovation
Funding backs a Scottish programme turning strengths into real‑world impact
The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), the UK’s centre of excellence for innovation in technology to efficiently meet financial regulation requirements, has secured £3.18 million from Scottish Enterprise to deliver three years of the award-winning programme. The funding will deepen collaboration amongst academia, industry and regulators, and further accelerate the adoption of responsible technology-driven innovation in financial services, supporting the sector’s competitiveness and that of the economy.
Led by FinTech Scotland in partnership with the University of Strathclyde, FRIL will accelerate the adoption of new solutions enabling fairer financial futures and supporting technology innovators to scale their businesses.
The types of industry regulatory challenges that FRIL will address include:
- ensuring AI is adopted by providers in a way that is responsible and explainable to ensure fair financial outcomes for businesses and consumers;
- finding solutions that strengthen the effectiveness, integrity and efficiency of financial crime controls.
Agile prioritisation during the programme will address industry needs and emerging regulations around the use of AI, open data and digital assets. By uniting industry, academia, technology innovators, government and regulators, FRIL will turn shared insight into products, partnerships, investment and real‑world adoption.
To date, FRIL has successfully supported 120 fintech SMEs to accelerate solutions, enabled £28 million in committed private investment and delivered a projected 6:1 economic return on investment for every £1 of public funding.
Jane Martin, Managing Director Innovation and Investment, Scottish Enterprise, said: “FRIL is a shining example of how collaboration between industry, academia and regulators can make a real impact, utilising the development of advanced technologies to create high‑value jobs and attract private investment.
This funding underscores our commitment to fintech innovation and our support for innovative businesses, helping them to scale with confidence and build the global competitiveness of Scotland’s financial services sector.”
Aleks Tomczyk, Chief Executive, FinTech Scotland, added: “The opportunity from the current and forecast future growth of fintech is huge. We are proud of FRIL’s impact to date. FRIL’s success evidences the strategic value of innovation to the economy and the strength of our fintech cluster in simultaneously delivering growth and better outcomes for consumers. Scottish Enterprise’s investment will use FinTech Scotland’s proven Innovation Labs model to accelerate innovation in large companies and speed growth in fintechs.”
Professor Eleanor Shaw, University of Strathclyde, stated:“We are delighted to be a partner again in delivery of FRIL phase 3. Continuing our triple helix partnership approach ensures we can deliver on our mission to drive positive impact through useful research, learning, and innovation. This approach has so far demonstrated its success in delivering for Glasgow City Region, and we are excited about supporting this to become a national programme.”
Derek Shanks, Technology Platform Lead, Lloyds Banking Group, commented: “We’ve supported three FRIL innovation calls as a challenge partner and have seen first-hand the value of this model. It brings together the right mix of expertise, technology and challenge to turn ideas into real solutions. We welcome Scottish Enterprise’s investment and look forward to building on this partnership over the next three years.”
Calum Murray, CEO and Founder, Amiqus, noted:“The potential impact delivered by FRIL over the next three years to the broader Ecosystem is enormous. Thanks to a previous FRIL financial crime innovation call, we were able to build, pilot and take to production new capability to directly support Virgin Money with their new business onboarding journeys.
This three-year commitment effectively sets the stage for collaborative and rapid progress across both financial services developing new capabilities with the support of a wide range of fintechs going forward. It’s a win win on all accounts.”
Benefits reliance rising in every region of Great Britain, new financial data shows
Smart Data Foundry launches new Benefits Reliance Indicator using transactional data from 5 million bank accounts
Smart Data Foundry has launched a new data indicator designed to help policymakers, local authorities and researchers better understand where people may be coming under increasing financial pressure.
The new Benefits Reliance Indicator, available through their map-based Economic Wellbeing Explorer uses aggregated anonymised transactional data from NatWest. This data covers five million consumer current accounts across Great Britain and highlights areas where benefits from Universal Credit, Housing Credit and Tax Credits constitute 20% or more of people’s incomes.
The launch comes at a time of continued cost-of-living pressure, with the Food and Drink Federation forecasting food inflation could reach up to 10% by the end of 2026 and the energy price cap expected to rise again this summer, local authorities face growing pressure to target support effectively. At the same time. Department for Work and Pensions statistics show that more than a third of people (32%) receiving Universal Credit are in work, underlining the growing role benefits play in supplementing low or variable incomes.
Unlike traditional survey-based datasets, the Benefits Reliance Indicator provides a near-real-time view of how people’s income composition changes month-to-month. The indicator measures the proportion of people in a local area for whom means-tested benefits account for 20% or more of total income. This threshold was developed in consultation with local authority stakeholders as a meaningful signal of financial vulnerability.
The data combines income from Universal Credit, Housing Credit and Tax Credit with earnings, pensions and other income sources to provide a fuller picture of financial wellbeing – and where communities may be more exposed to labour market changes and welfare policy reforms.
Data to 29 March 2026 reveals:
- A rising proportion of people across England, Scotland and Wales relying on benefits for at least 20% of their income. This has been rising for the last two years. Scotland has seen the biggest increase, at 1.83% over the past 2 years, with benefits reliance in Wales increasing by 1.7% and in England by 1.25%.
- There are strong regional variations within England, Scotland and Wales:
- Wales has the overall highest rate of benefits reliance, with South East Wales at 9.36% – an increase of 2.11 percentage points over the last two years. Whilst North Wales has the lowest proportion at 6.64%, it has also seen a rise in benefits reliance over the last 2 years, as has Mid and South-West Wales – rising from 6.05% in March 2024 to 7.59% in March 2026.
- In Scotland, overall reliance is lower than in Wales and whilst there is an upward trend, it is much less steep. However, in recent months Eastern Scotland has seen a rise of 4.82 percentage points to 7.37% of our sample in that region with incomes consisting of 20% or more from Universal Credit, Housing Credit and Tax Credit. West Central Scotland has seen a similar rise, with a 2.42 percentage pointincrease over two years and 8.38% of our sample now showing benefits reliance. North East Central and the Highlands and Islands have shown the smallest increases, both under 1 percentage point.
- In the North of England, the area with the highest rate of benefits reliance is North East England, at 9.49% of our sample. North East England is also the region with the biggest growth (1.6 percentage points), followed by Yorkshire and the Humber (1.51 percentage points and North West England (1.42 percentage points).
- In the South of England, benefits reliance becomes less prevalent; the South East has the lowest proportion at 4.85%, but similarly to Scotland and Wales all English regions are seeing a growing reliance on benefits. London is an outlier in the south, with 7.75% of our sample showing benefits reliance.
The new indicator has been developed to help organisations identify emerging hardship earlier, target support more effectively and monitor the impact of welfare reforms, labour market changes and wider economic shocks. It will be updated monthly, and can also be filtered by age group and income range.
Dougie Robb, DEO of Smart Data Foundry added “Too often, financial hardship only becomes visible once people reach crisis point. By showing where people’s incomes are supplemented by means-tested benefits in near real time, we can better understand the role these benefits play in supporting people’s living standards – and where financial vulnerability is building.
“That means organisations can better understand changing economic conditions and target support where it may be needed most, as well as evaluate policy changes much more quickly.”
The Benefits Reliance Indicator is available to all users of the Economic Wellbeing Explorer, alongside a companion aggregated research dataset in Smart Data Foundry’s secure research environment, MyFoundry. The Economic Wellbeing Explorer is free to access at national and regional level, with local-level data available on subscription. Organisations interested in understanding benefits reliance within their own local authority area can request a personalised walkthrough of the data and platform.
To support the launch, Smart Data Foundry will host a webinar on 26 May 2026 exploring the new indicator, emerging trends and practical applications for targeting interventions and tackling poverty.
Morgan Stanley appoints Angela McCann as Head of Glasgow office
Morgan Stanley today confirmed the appointment of Angela McCann as Head of Glasgow
In her new role, Angela will be responsible for overseeing Morgan Stanley’s Glasgow office, which supports a wide range of business functions and plays a key role in Morgan Stanley’s global operations. Having joined Morgan Stanley in 2006, she brings over two decades of experience across a broad range of Finance leadership positions.
In addition, Angela will continue to serve as Head of Glasgow Finance, a role she has held since 2022. She is also a senior champion of Morgan Stanley’s socio-economic inclusion strategy and serves on the Firm’s EMEA Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures Committee.
Angela McCann, Managing Director and Head of the Glasgow office, said“Glasgow has been an important part of my career, and having grown up in Scotland, it is a real privilege to take on this expanded role. The office plays an important role in supporting Morgan Stanley globally, and I look forward to building on the strong foundations already in place while continuing to invest in our people and the local community.”
Angela’s 20-year career with Morgan Stanley includes nine years in New York, where she held senior Finance roles and led key strategic initiatives within Corporate Tax.
Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Angela worked for six years in financial management roles within the telecommunications sector across several international locations including the Philippines, Taiwan, Atlanta and Seattle. She is also a Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA).
NatWest becomes first UK bank to launch home-buying guidance in ChatGPT
Users can now explore buying or re-mortgaging options within one of the world’s most used AI platforms.
On 30 April, NatWest Group has announced that it has become the first UK bank to offer an app in ChatGPT, providing NatWest-specific home-buying and re-mortgage guidance. This marks a new way for consumers to access trusted information and begin their home-buying journey and is an important step as NatWest continues to invest in technology and AI to meet customers’ evolving needs.
NatWest now appears in the ChatGPT app store alongside well-known platforms such as Rightmove and MoneySuperMarket. This means customers and non-customers can add and tag the bank in a query to receive NatWest‑specific mortgage and home‑buying guidance without having to leave the platform. Users will then be signposted to NatWest-owned channels to take the next steps, including to access specialist advice, appointments for colleague support or digital mortgage applications.
Consumers can explore their mortgage options and support decision-making in a more personalised way, with ChatGPT drawing on publicly available NatWest APIs to calculate how much they could borrow, test affordability and deposit scenarios, and receive tailored mortgage rates. By sharing details such as their income and monthly outgoings, users can receive responses grounded in real numbers, returning to the conversation later as their circumstances or questions evolve.
Conversations within the app are clearly branded as NatWest, so customers understand when they are receiving responses from the bank.
Solange Chamberlain, Retail CEO, NatWest Group said: “As technology and AI open up new ways for people to access information and think about their finances, NatWest is focused on meeting customer needs by showing up in the right places at the right time.
Buying a home is a major financial decision, and we want to support those early mortgage planning conversations wherever they may take place. By bringing trusted NatWest mortgage guidance directly into ChatGPT, we’re giving consumers more choice in how they explore their options in a more personalised and accessible way.”
NatWest continues to transform the digital mortgage experience and currently leads the market with the largest flow of digital new business. This builds on its recent partnership and integration with Rightmove, that sees Natwest provide home buyers with an instant fully digital NatWest mortgage decision in principle when applying through Rightmove, enabling customers to then complete their full application online.
Modulr and Sardine partner to bring real-time, AI-enabled fraud detection to automated payments
Sardine, the leading agentic risk platform to fight financial crime, today announced a partnership with Modulr, the payments automation platform built to scale. Through the partnership, Sardine will support Modulr with a suite of integrated fraud and anti-money laundering (AML) solutions.
The integration, as part of Modulr’s broader investment in financial crime and risk management capabilities, enables Modulr to leverage Sardine’s platform to detect and stop financial crime across card and real-time payment rails, while strengthening AML compliance and operational controls as the business scales. It is integrated into Modulr’s Risk & Compliance Hub – a connected set of tools and infrastructure that spans the entire customer lifecycle and is built to protect customers, reduce friction, and prevent financial crime.
Businesses are increasingly expected to move money instantly, yet many fraud and AML systems were built for slower settlement cycles and manual investigation workflows. By integrating Sardine’s risk platform directly into its payment infrastructure, Modulr is able to leverage the latest technology to prevent and manage financial crime.
“Real-time payments fundamentally change how fraud and AML needs to be managed,” said Soups Ranjan, CEO and Co-Founder of Sardine. “When funds move instantly, risk decisions need to happen just as quickly. Modulr’s platform delivers critical capability for automated payments, and we’re excited to help ensure those payment flows remain secure as they scale.”
“For Modulr to provide our customers with the ability to run mission-critical finance operations accurately and at scale, we need strong compliance that gives peace of mind without adding friction – which is why we are partnering with tools like Sardine, and building a Risk & Compliance Hub that monitors every step of the customer journey to prevent financial crime,” said Ben Taylor, Chief Operating Officer at Modulr. “For our customers, that translates to streamlined and low-friction onboarding, a better money movement experience, and crime prevention infrastructure that keeps pace as their business grows.”
Modulr’s payments automation platform streamlines money movement with greater accuracy, control and reliability – built to scale and powering use cases across payroll, supplier payments, lending, and travel. Sardine backs that network with a track record of protecting over $1T in transaction volume across a global customer base of enterprises and financial institutions. Sardine also operates the fastest growing fraud data consortium, spanning more than 5.5 billion devices, 670 million consumers, and 2.8 million businesses. By protecting funds across some of the highest risk industries in financial services, Sardine gains early visibility into emerging fraud patterns. That intelligence helps Modulr’s customers stay ahead of evolving threats.
Glimzer x Sprint Enterprise: a live data feed for UK financial advice firms
By Glimzer and Sprint Enterprise Technology
Every UK financial advice firm faces the same problem. Client information sits in one system, while plan and valuation data sits in another. Keeping them in sync leads to manual data entry, duplicated work, and advisers switching between logins to find what they need.
We’ve teamed up to address this.
From today, Glimzer and Sprint Enterprise are connected by a live data feed via Sprint’s FINIO data hub. Financial advice firms can stop entering the same information twice, stop switching between systems for current valuations, and work from a single, up-to-date view of each client plan, with far less manual reconciliation.
The problem we’re tackling together
Ask any practice manager where their time goes and manual admin will be near the top. Plan valuations entered into spreadsheets. Provider data keyed into the CRM by hand. The same client details entered multiple times because different systems require them. Advisers logging into one tool to check a figure, then pasting it into another.
None of this is new. And none of it is really an adviser’s job. It’s what happens when systems that weren’t built to connect are expected to share client data.
The fix is simple in principle: connect the systems, let the data flow, and remove the need for manual workarounds. In practice, it requires two teams committed to building it properly. That’s what this partnership delivers.
What the integration does
FINIO is a data hub that provides a single integration point, covering multiple investment platforms – with data normalised, reconciled and enriched and acts as a conduit between software providers and financial advice firms. With this integration, that data now flows directly into Glimzer.
Advice firms can access the data they need without logging into another system, without relying on spreadsheets, and without uncertainty about whether the data is current.
Why we’re building this way
Glimzer’s approach to integrations is focused. We prioritise a small number of integrations that work well with high-quality partners, rather than building a long list that only partially works. The teams we integrate with need to share our focus on reliability, responsible data handling, clear support, and delivering real value to UK financial advice firms.
Sprint Enterprise Technology, the team behind FINIO, fits that approach. Their data hub is widely used across the UK advice market, and a data feed like this requires a partner who will build and support it properly. Working with Gary, Emma, and the wider Sprint team has been straightforward from the outset.
A bit about FINIO
FINIO is built by Sprint Enterprise Technology. It sits between UK investment platforms and the tools financial advice firms use, consolidating plan and valuation data from multiple providers into a single feed. Firms using FINIO benefit from one source of data that is normalised, reconciled and enriched that would otherwise need to be gathered from each platform separately.
A bit about Glimzer
Glimzer is a CRM and practice management platform built specifically for UK financial advice firms. The aim is simple: give firms their time back. Less admin, more time with clients. It’s built in the UK and designed around how advice firms actually work.
What Tom says
“Manual admin is one of the biggest time drains in any UK financial advice firm. Duplicate data entry, switching between systems to find a single number, and maintaining records manually all add up. Every hour spent on this is an hour not spent with clients. Partnering with FINIO was an obvious step. Dan, Gary, Emma, and the wider Sprint team have been great to work with and made the build process smooth.”
Tom Matthieson, Founder, Glimzer
What Gary says
“We’re pleased to welcome Glimzer into the FINIO ecosystem. We focus on working with partners who are building well-designed, practical tools for UK financial advice firms, and Glimzer fits that well. By connecting to FINIO, firms can access reliable, up-to-date investment data within their CRM, helping reduce manual work and improving day-to-day efficiency.”
Gary Shepherd, Business Development Director, Sprint Enterprise Technology
How to switch it on
If you’re a Glimzer customer already using FINIO, get in touch and they’ll guide you through enabling the feed for your firm.
If you’re a financial advice firm reviewing CRM options and want to see how Glimzer works, book a 30-minute call and they’ll walk you through it.
Atos UK&I joins FinTech Scotland as Strategic Partner to accelerate AI‑led fintech innovation and growth
FinTech Scotland today announced that Atos, a global leader of AI-powered digital transformation, has joined the Scottish fintech cluster as a Technology Strategic Partner, strengthening the cluster’s ability to drive collaborative innovation and growth.
Atos brings global scale with a strong UK presence to help create the conditions for faster innovation, secure scaling and economic impact across Scotland’s fintech community. Experts in Agentic AI, digital sovereignty and cybersecurity with a 60,000‑strong team worldwide, Atos provides end‑to‑end digital expertise across consulting, infrastructure, operations and optimisation, as well as integrated services across cloud, application services, smart platforms and the digital workplace.
This partnership strengthens the cluster’s momentum and the shared commitment to collaborative innovation that will shape the future of next-generation financial services. It takes our network to 37 Strategic Partners, building a world-class environment for fintech innovation and regional growth, at a time when Scotland’s fintech cluster has more than doubled in five years, from just over 120 firms in 2020 to more than 260 today, reinforcing its position as one of Europe’s most dynamic and collaborative fintech clusters.
Aleks Tomczyk, Chief Executive at FinTech Scotland, said: “This partnership with Atos strengthens our shared commitment to fostering innovation, collaboration and growth across Scotland’s fintech cluster. By bringing deep expertise in AI, data, secure cloud and digital platforms, alongside a strong global presence, Atos will enhance the support available to fintechs as they develop new solutions and build resilience, contributing to Scotland’s economic and societal progress.”
Simon Chandler, Head of Financial Services and Insurance, UK & Ireland at Atos said: “Atos is delighted to join FinTech Scotland to cement our investment in Financial Services in Scotland. We are excited to work in collaboration with the; FinTech SME community, Financial Services organisations, regulators, universities, and government by leveraging our leading Sovereign Agentic AI, Data, cloud and digital global expertise, underpinned by our unique Sustainability and Social Value commitments. We aim to drive Shared Value success for every part of this community to the betterment of this community and Scotland as a whole.”
The Tipton selects docStribute® to modernise member communications
docStribute® and the Tipton & Coseley Building Society partner to improve the firm’s communications and strengthen member engagement
docStribute®, a UK RegTech company specialising in regulated customer communications, today announces a strategic partnership with the Tipton & Coseley Building Society.
The partnership reflects the Tipton’s continued focus on personalised service, deepening member engagement and meeting the requirements of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Consumer Duty.
A key priority for the Tipton is accelerating digital transformation, with the partnership forming part of a multi-year change programme to expand online services, enhance systems and create better retail and working environments.
Through the docStribute® platform, the Society wants to move towards an electronic-first approach for both regulated and general communications. It aims to reduce delivery costs, process important documents more quickly, and use less paper, thereby lowering the associated carbon emissions.
Beyond cost, efficiency and environmental gains, the partnership will help the Tipton in repositioning its regulated documents, so they are not just a compliance requirement, but an opportunity to engage with members.
By presenting information in a clearer, more accessible digital format for those who want it, the Tipton can build greater awareness and understanding within its membership. This in turn supports well informed financial decisions, in line with Consumer Duty expectations.
docStribute® enables the delivery of timely, relevant communications which are easier to access, read, and navigate. The result is improved engagement and measurable insight into how members interact with information, allowing the Tipton to continuously improve clarity and outcomes.
Central to this approach is docStribute’s AIDA, the Artificial Intelligent Document Assistant. Developed through docStribute’s participation in FinTech Scotland’s Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), it enables recipients to interact with regulated documents in a conversational way, helping them navigate complex information, ask questions, and receive clear explanations in real time.
The platform can also incorporate supportive formats such as short video and enhanced visual layers to aid accessibility and comprehension. Together, these tools support financial literacy and stronger understanding, while ensuring communications remain compliant and appropriately governed.
The platform uses Distributed Ledger Technology to protect the integrity of customer documents and create a verifiable record of what information was sent and when. This ensures communications remain secure, accessible, and compliant with the FCA’s Durable Medium requirements, while providing the sender with greater visibility of engagement and understanding.
Chris Ansara, CEO of docStribute®, said:
“We are pleased to be working with The Tipton & Coseley Building Society. Building societies have always been rooted in trust and community. Our role is to help turn regulated communications into moments that strengthen that trust by making important information clearer and easier to engage with.
“With AIDA, and enhanced formats such as video, we are adding another layer that actively supports member understanding, not just delivery. This partnership brings our total building society partners to four and highlights the sector’s continued emphasis on improving customer understanding through stronger engagement.”
Richard Groom, Chief Customer Officer at the Tipton, added:
“We are focused on increasing the proportion of compliant digital communications we send as this brings multiple benefits to our business and members alike. Adopting an electronic-first approach, in line with members’ preferences, is another step towards modernising our Society and will improve the overall standard of service we offer.”
Finance and Health Lab National Conference to convene cross-sector leaders at The Edinburgh Futures Institute
FinTech Scotland today announced the Finance and Health Lab National Conference, on 19 March 2026, an invite-only national event bringing together leaders from financial services, health, academia, government and the innovation ecosystem to explore how Scotland can lead the next wave of progress at the intersection of health and financial wellbeing.
Hosted at the University of Edinburgh’s Futures Institute, the conference will showcase practical insights, emerging innovation, and opportunities for collaboration focused on challenges that matter in later life and beyond — including inclusive service design, strengthening financial resilience, and building trusted approaches to data.
The Finance and Health Lab is designed to accelerate collaboration across sectors, connecting partners to test ideas, generate evidence, and support innovations to move from insight to impact. The conference will share what’s been learned so far and set out the next steps for continued ecosystem action.
What to expect on the day
The one-day programme (10:00–16:00, arrival from 09:30) includes:
- A keynote and guided discussion on the future of financial health in an ageing society
- A research insight showcase on health–wealth dynamics in later life
- An industry panel on designing future-ready, inclusive financial services
- A startup showcase and demonstrator session featuring ventures from the innovation call
- A data proposition session exploring trusted, ethical pathways for financial-health data use
- A closing conversation on scaling innovation through collaboration and national impact
Registration is invite-only, with a register interest option available via the event page.
Aleks Tomczyk, Chief Executive, FinTech Scotland, said: “Scotland has a unique opportunity to lead in innovation that connects financial resilience with healthier outcomes. The Finance and Health Lab National Conference brings partners together to share evidence, spotlight innovation, and build practical routes to collaboration and scale.”
Dr Andrea Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of Edinburgh Innovations, said: “This is an opportunity to align research, practice and policy and focus collective effort on innovations that can make a measurable difference for people as they age.”
Register interest
This event is by invitation only. Register your interest on the Finance and Health Lab National Conference page to receive further details.