Artificial Intelligence and Professional Expertise
Accountancy, law, insurance”¦ these professions usually conjure images of spreadsheets, glass and steel offices, jargon-filled sentences, square eyes and grey suits. Perhaps this is part of the reason why we willingly pay high fees for such services: passing the burden to highly intelligent individuals who will perform those laborious tasks for us. But all this might be about to change.
It’s not about replacement
Machine learning and artificial intelligence solutions are already better at performing many tasks than the professionals: beating human lawyers in reviewing contracts and predicting the outcomes of legal cases[1].
But it is not about replacing lawyers, accountants and insurance managers with machines. Instead, it is about building data solutions that enrich their practice: automating repetitive tasks to free up time for strategic thinking and managing the client relationship; lowering costs to offer services to a wider audience, including legal help for those who most need it; improving detection of insurance fraud to lower premiums for all; accessing and using data to deliver a better more personalised service.
The potential for AI in professional services is clearly considerable: for those who use and depend upon them, and those working in these industries.
The UK in a great position
Furthermore, the UK is in the perfect position to make it happen. With its world-leading centres of AI research, it has been described as first in the world for AI readiness’[2]. It also has a justifiably renowned heritage in providing professional services, with the biggest legal and insurance sectors in Europe, and ranked as the leading exporter of financial and related professional services across the world in 2017.
Those working in the industry must play a central role in the development of these new technologies for them to succeed. They are the knowledge domain experts who are indispensable in designing the machines of the future: framing the challenges, producing data requirements, identifying potential risks and articulating the social and ethical issues.
As Professor Richard Susskind, author of the Future of the Professions says:
“Professionals should become directly involved in the development of the systems that handle and deliver practical expertise.”
A need for increased collaboration
A collaborative approach between professionals, academic researchers and technologists across the professional services industry will ensure that the solutions are best in class from a technical, user and social perspective.
It is such an approach that is being encouraged by the forthcoming £20m Next Generation Services Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). The challenge is set to support the development of data and AI solutions in the sectors of accountancy, legal and insurance services. It will include an initial CR&D call of up to £12m and an initial Research Programme call of up to £3m.
Fortnightly FinTech Fuse ”“ Collaboration, the Fintech Fuel”¦
This last two weeks has further shown me how collaboration across a range of people and organisations is helping to fuel a vibrant and growing fintech environment in Scotland
Excitingly, this collaboration goes well beyond the traditional boundaries of financial services and embraces a diversity of people who share a common purpose in driving progressive change.
For example, the opportunity to share my thoughts at the recent Digital Cities event, expertly organised by FutureScot, was ideal in highlighting how fintech innovation can support public sector digital objectives.
This conversation continued when I met up with the brilliant Alexander Holt to talk about the very successful CivTech initiative, with stage three of the programme about to be announced in early June.
We both share a strong view that collaboration provides a real opportunity for fintech enterprises to further develop financial services and public sector innovation by working in unison focused on good social outcomes.
City Collaboration
Innovative collaboration also requires active engagement with a broad range of stakeholders across our cities and it was good to talk through data driven innovation ideas with Liz Mcareavey at the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce a few days ago.
This citywide collaboration was also very much in evident in the discussions at the University of Glasgow and Chamber of Commerce event on Wednesday on the ambitious plans for the Innovation District’ over the next few years.
Such collaborative partnership between public, private and the academic sector will provide further impetus for the City being a major innovation hub and I look forward to exploring further how fintech enterprises can participate in this significant development.
Last week, I enjoyed the conversation with Mark Napier of JP Morgan on how City wide fintech collaboration can drive innovation as well as progress our mutual inclusion and diversity objectives. I’m looking forward to sharing more at the Glasgow Economic Leadership financial services meeting next month.
The collaboration fuel’ was also very much in evident when I caught up with Professor Jim Macdonald, Adrian Gillespie and Tim Bedford of Strathclyde University as we explored how fintech could embrace opportunities of working within their world leading Technology and Innovation Centre in Glasgow City centre.
Very excited about the opportunity of fintech playing a key role in enabling this citywide collaboration with Scotland’s world leading universities playing a central role and working with international thought leaders such as Danial Broby, who shared with me the latest thoughts on blockchain.
Talking with Maggie Craig and Alan Drainer at the Financial Conduct Authority this week, the opportunity to build even closer collaboration with the regulator as we develop the university led citywide initiatives will further enhance the innovation environments we can create in Scotland.
Creative Collaboration
Making collaboration work in practice requires creative and courageous interaction and this was certainly brought alive to me when meeting with John McHugh and `Alison McHugh of Gigly at the end of the day in Glasgow on Wednesday.
Their businesses Gigly and Adlantic are such amazing enterprises, focused on creatively addressing people’s financial needs through proactive collaboration and it was a privilege to hear the wisdom and passion of two such inspiring leadership role models.
Hugely motivating, massive thank you John and Alison for bringing alive how fintech is making a difference (and for the tips on being a better swimmer!)
My meeting last week at Codebase in Edinburgh with the engaging Trish McClay, Simon Lewis, Graham Cambridge, the Barclays team working with fintech people, was all about creative collaboration in action with great new firms such as Mark for Market. Thanks Andy Cunningham for arranging such a super session.
The role of creative collaboration in a highly regulated sector such as financial services is key to unlocking the opportunities going forward and I shared some thoughts on this with the annual gathering of the Group Internal Audit team at RBS.
Very much appreciated the engagement from the session and thanks to Martin Ambrose for inviting me to share how risk management, audit and fintech innovation can positively work together in a collaborative environment.
Creative collaboration also very much applies to the subject of cyber security and it was valuable to have distinguished guests at the joint Cyber Scotland and FinTech Scotland dinner on Thursday evening.
Cyber and fintech are areas where Scotland has the potential to excel and it a terrific roundtable conversation with Minister Derek MacKay and a cross section of investor community on how we can maximize the opportunity. Thank you to the fabulous Evelyn Walker and Martin Beaton as well as BTO for organising a splendid evening with an abundance of collaboration spirit and ambition.
Working with our recently announced strategic partners, Deloitte, Pinsent Masons, Dentsu Aegis and Sopra Steria, we are looking forward to progressing a number of other strategic fintech themes that Scotland can showcase around the world through global collaboration.
In this respect, I am very fortunate to be mentored by Promilla Caughey, who provides such fresh insightful counsel on navigating the international opportunities and global contacts in this changing world. Great to see you again this week Promilla and thank you for joining me on my meeting engagements in Glasgow.
Global Collaboration
Global collaboration has always been a key objective of FinTech Scotland and so it was great to be invited by SDI colleagues Racquel Largo Martinez and Laurent Melin to join a presentation in Barcleona for senior people from the banking community.
There was much interest in how we are developing Scotland’s fintech ecosystem. albeit, my participation was via Skype as much as I would have loved a visit to the beautiful European city at this time of year!
The presentation highlighted to me once again how the fintech community in Scotland is very much taking a leadership role when it comes to Scotland wide and global collaboration.
Further reinforced by Mickael and Graham Hatton of SDI, who did a fabulous job along with the engaging Myles Stephenson of fintech firm Modulr in sharing with a big London audience at Scotland House on how we are making a mark in the global fintech scene.
This is also very much the thinking behind the Open Banking Centre of Excellence developments and it was good to agree some constructive steps on how to progress with Gavin Littlejohn and Kevin Collins, from the University of Edinburgh Data Innovation Programme last week.
The recent announcement by Phil Grady and Martin Leonard at the brilliant Castlight Financial on their collaboration with global banking player HSBC is a really great example of the valuable work being driven forward by Scotland’s fintech enterprises and leaders. Fantastic news.
Of course, the global collaboration goes beyond open banking and a terrific example last week was the University of Edinburgh Business School event on Social Finance and Finance Technology.
I was delighted to share thoughts on how fintech in Scotland can contribute to the broader social finance agenda along with some excellent speakers from around the world.
Well done to Marcel Lukas, Augosto Rocha and Arman Eshraghi for a very innovative and collaborative event, possibly the first of its kind in the world, again Scotland leading the way.
Of course, my fortnightly blog can only skim the surface of the scale of fintech activity taking place across Scotland. Therefore, I delighted to see the comprehensive fintech supplement from Scotsman newspaper appear this week bringing alive the unique opportunity we have to make a difference in Scotland and globally
Very much appreciate the work by David Lee and Ian Davey in bringing alive Scotland’s fintech opportunities and community. Another brilliant example of the value in engaging collaboration.
Marathon Collaboration
As my mind turns to my marathon in Edinburgh this weekend, it strikes me how my running success is also dependent upon great community collaboration.
Yes, running is very much an individual sporting activity focused on physical and mental endurance but the ability to successfully complete the 26.2 miles also relies on the extensive collaboration of the race organisers, fabulous volunteers, sponsors, cheering supporters, fellow runners and, of course, family
For me, a marathon is as much about an inclusive community and collective collaboration as it is about personal endeavour and performance. This is also so true of what we are trying to achieve with fintech in Scotland.
Give me a fintech cheer’ if you are out and about on Sunday morning and see me as I join the many thousands of runners enjoying every minute of this super Edinburgh marathon race, it may just be the extra bit of encouragement I need at that point!
Until next time.
Fortnightly FinTech Fuse ”“ 100 Days and Counting”¦
Well, that’s nearly one hundred days in the role heading up FinTech Scotland since the start of the year.
Infact, it is a bit more than one hundred if you include the weekend days that have been necessary to keep on top of the high level of engagement email and social media traffic!
This first four months can best be summed up as being positively inspiring and diverse and the last fourteen days have continued along these lines with a broad range of engagements focused on taking forward Scotland’s fintech opportunities.
Innovation Days
Our roundtable meeting in Fife with the local fintech community on Tuesday was a great example of how the innovation heritage in Scotland provides a valuable foundation for future fintech developments.
It was an insightful and engaging session for Mickael and myself in the Glenrothes Enterprise Hub with a good part of the discussion focused on the need to improve skills and talent development in the sector if we are to embrace the payment fintech opportunities ahead.
A big thank you to Iain Shirlaw for his fantastic leadership and energy in making the event happen and it was great to session from the Glenrothes local Ian Cunningham on the brilliant LendingCrowd business.
The previous day it was an opportunity to catch up with Professor Chris Speed and the Edinburgh College of Arts team on how we could work together to help the sector innovate and reimagine a new financial services world. So much potential around using data to drive innovation with a strong social purpose.
Embracing the open banking opportunity is one example of this and I am very excited about our emerging plans for the Centre of Excellence we’ve been developing with Ross Laurie and Gavin Littlejohn. Scotland’s innovative fintech firms are very much embracing this and looking forward to sharing more on this strategy at the Meet Up in a couple of weeks.
Strategic Days
Wednesday was my opportunity to share the open banking and the broader FinTech Scotland strategic plans with the quarterly Financial Services Advisory Board jointly chaired by Scotland’s First Minister and Jim Pettigrew, the chair of SFE and CYBG.
As we reach 100 days since launch, this meeting was an important milestone for FinTech Scotland in sharing the two year strategic plans with Government Ministers and senior figures from across financial services sector.
I came away hugely encouraged by the enthusiastic and collaborative support from all in attendance at the Board, especially for the confirmation of the inaugural chair and strategic partners for FinTech Scotland (See here for more)
There was certainly a commitment to making fintech a major success in Scotland and achieving a top five global status with a focus on data driven innovation combined with strong social purpose and outcomes.
This valuable Scottish Government and industry support was also mirrored in conversations during this last fortnight with very insightful Councilor Lezley Cameron as well as Paul Lawrence at Edinburgh City Council.
Hearing the exciting strategic plans for the City along with the ambition of the University of Edinburgh from Hugh Edmiston and Gordon Donald further demonstrated to me the opportunity for fintech to contribute to a broader thriving economy.
It further highlighted to me that the joint team efforts of the public sector, academia and private sector can really make a difference in making a strategy come alive for all to benefit and a shared focus on inclusive growth initiatives.
Collaboration Days
Of course, this requires everybody being focused on how we improve collaboration, and, in this respect, it was great to host the team from Blenheim Chalcott on how we could work together to create the right innovation environments for fintechs to scale and grow.
Very much looking forward to taking forward the ideas and initiatives that Mark Sanders and the team have to help exciting businesses such as Myles Stephenson’s Modulr continue to expand in Scotland.
This reinforces that collaboration needs to go beyond the financial services sector itself and it was great to catch up last week with Liz McAreavey, Chief Executive at the Edinburgh Chambers of Commerce.
Looking forward to further working with Liz on bringing alive the data driven innovation opportunities across the region through fintech with a diverse range of participants.
During this first one hundred days of FinTech Scotland, the collaborative support from the Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International teams has been immensely valuable.
I’ve very much appreciated the ongoing day to day collaboration from Sharon Hamilton, Graeme Rennsion and wider SE team as we consider the practical steps to improve fintech opportunities, for example, by making the network of services more integrated and creating good physical environments for collaboration.
Days talking about collaboration also require a global perspective and so it was wonderful to meet up with David Clarke to talk through the exciting Scottish-Irish Finance Initiative event in June.
Certainly looking forward to this and discussing how it will reinforce the mutual opportunities across the Irish Sea collaboration bridge for fintechs and the wider economy.
People Days
Of course, collaboration is all about people and an exciting part of the role is meeting a diversity of people all with a common bond of wanting to make fintech a success in Scotland and on the global stage.
For example, my regular catch up last Friday with the inspiring David Ferguson, chief executive of Nucleus Financial was as valuable as ever from which I gain a great deal from.
I am absolutely delighted that David has agreed to become the inaugural chair of Fintech Scotland and very much looking forward to his ongoing wide counsel and strategic insights as we execute out plans. See Here for more details
Earlier in the week I had the opportunity to see another of my role models, Judy Wagner of FWB Park Brown who is always so focused on making a difference through inclusive people engagement.
It was really wonderful to see Judy again along with hearing from Susan Murphy, Maeve Gillies and Jacqui Gale to discuss our sessions for the Emerging Women Leader Programme at the University of Edinburgh in June.
This focus on people development was also top of the conversation last week when seeing Maggie Morrison of CGI to share thoughts on initiatives to embrace the breadth and diversity of people skills across Scotland
A point which was also top of mind when talking with Eva Schueckel on my involvement with the Fintech Fellowship programme sponsored by Spotcap, such a critically important initiative in supporting young people in the fintech sector.
The people focus was also very topical at the iMultiply event on the role of humans with artificial intelligence last Thursday.
Very much enjoyed sharing the platform with the innovative Colin Hewitt of Float, the dynamic Melinda Matthews of CodeClan, all expertly hosted by Kirsty Mackenzie and Heather Corcoran. Great engagement from the audience and I think we could have carried on all night!
Running Days
I must admit I’m trying to avoid days that turn into late nights at moment as my running days intensify leading up to the Edinburgh marathon at the end of the May.
Before then, this weekend it is a warm up half marathon race at beautiful Loch Leven to test how much speed I have in my legs at the moment
This means another short trip to the Kingdom of Fife, a lovely place to run and, of course, the original home where fintech all started forty years ago as Bill Tennant from the excellent fintech firm Payment Centric rightly pointed out on Tuesday at the Glenrothes Enterprise roundtable.
Until next time.
Scotland’s fintechs to play major role in the growth of mission-driven business
Over the past ten years we have witnessed some truly game-changing developments in the world of business. On the back of the worst financial crisis in living memory, distrust of large institutions has grown, consumers have become increasingly empowered, and a new generation of socially-conscious business leaders have emerged.
Rise of the social enterprise
While such economic uncertainty has bred volatility within the more traditional markets, some other markets have flourished and prospered. The rise of the social enterprise has been rapid, fuelled by a demand from everyday consumers to consciously choose or buy from businesses underpinned by strong ethical values.
At Social Investment Scotland (SIS), we have seen social enterprise morph from being a niche movement within local rural communities to a business model of choice for ambitious entrepreneurs in Scotland. And things are already changing again.
Innovation in the social enterprise
Innovative forms of delivering social impact are being delivered via a range of business models beyond the classic forms of social enterprise ”“ this is part led by education but also by investment needs and capital required to achieve impact at scale.
These new mission driven businesses’ (businesses that focus on the achievement of both conventional business aims alongside a clear and definable social mission) require investment that is aligned with these dual business objectives, something that is not yet widely acknowledged by more conventional forms of investment.
A good example is Storii (www.storiicare.com) set up by Scottish entrepreneur Cameron Graham in 2014. Storii seeks to improve the lives of those in care living by providing a platform via which they can engage with photographs and other memories of their past.
The useful and intuitive software has a range of applications across different care settings and has a clear business model alongside a definable social mission.
Through the launch of SIS Ventures, we plan to provide the tools and mission-aligned investment required to help early stage businesses, such as Storiicare, and social enterprises grow and deliver social impact at scale.
Over the next three years, SIS Ventures hopes to set up funds to raise up to £5m of new funding ”“ utilising both Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) and the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). The plan is to provide debt and equity to entrepreneurs, particularly those early stage ventures that might struggle to access investment from existing sources and have a mission to deliver impact at scale.
What about fintechs?
So where does fintech fit in you may ask? In our view, fintech will play an absolutely pivotal role in the continued development and growth of the mission-driven business sector. Underpinning this belied are two key factors.
Firstly, Impact Investing has expanded in scale in recent years, and one of the key drivers has been the development of new financial technologies. Innovative companies will continue to leverage new technologies to connect social enterprises with investors and raise awareness about sustainable investing opportunities.
Secondly, fintech offers a considerable solution to some of the common financial problems affecting societies across the world, ranging from money transfers and access to insurance and banking, to financial literacy and debt management. We’re already seeing a number of fintech operators emerge within this space, and we’ll continue to see more.
One such example is Sustainably, a fundraising app which enables user to round up their change for charity every time they shop. Another is Gigly ”“ an innovative, free to use platform helping people to navigate the gig economy, by finding them jobs, mortgages, training, services and more.
As one of the UK’s leading fintech hub outside of London, Scotland can play a leading role in marrying its expertise within fintech to its experience and experience in social enterprise. The prospect of developing a mission-driven sector with global scale is one that truly excites us. The launch of SIS Ventures now provides us, and Scotland, with an investment platform to help turn this prospect into reality, by supporting and investing in entrepreneurs who are passionate about making a difference.
For more information about SIS Ventures, visit www.sisventures.com
Fortnightly FinTech Fuse ”“ Purpose Driven FinTech
One thing that has really struck me since taking on the role at the start of the year to lead FinTech Scotland is the real sense of purpose behind the vibrant fintech innovation activity in Scotland
A purpose that goes beyond being commercially successful and creating job opportunities in Scotland but is driven by bigger overarching drive to improve people’s experience of financial services.
A brilliant example of this more significant motivating purpose was very much in evident when I met with the inspiring Phil Grady and the excellent team at Castlight Financial last week in Glasgow.
I was very much struck by Phil’s bold purpose of a “safer financial world for all’ and how this had a powerful meaning for the team members. It is no wonder Castlight Financial is successfully attracting attention in the financial world in Scotland and globally with its bigger purpose.
The same is true of Previse and my meeting with David Brown this week once again reinforced to me how their ambitious purpose of transforming trade finance to improve the well being of small enterprises is so important to all of us.
Collective Purpose
This purpose driven fintech becomes even more powerful when the collective forces of our ecosystem come together in Scotland to make a difference.
This was very much the case on Monday evening at the inaugural Open Banking Centre of Excellence meet up hosted at The ID.Co in Edinburgh with over 80 people from across the ecosystem. Listening to the stories of Colin Hewitt of Float, James Varga of The ID Co, Steve Tigar of Money Dashboard, Manu Peleteiro of InBest and Phil of Castlight showed to me we have the collective purpose in Scotland to make a progressive difference.
Especially when we have globally recognised leaders in the inspiring Gavin Littlejohn and Brian Costello of Yodlee championing how open banking fintech can make a positive contribution to citizens across the land.
Big thanks to Ross Laurie for making this inaugural meeting happen and be something we can build on going forward, more to follow soon.
Thank you also to Mickael, who stepped in for me to share Scotland’s existing fintech activity with the London community along with Paul Christensen of Previse, Kirsten Bennie of RBS and Graham Hatton of Scottish Development International last week. Great feedback on this.
A fabulous example of collaboration around a common purpose in action.
This was also the case at the SFE FinTech Group meeting a couple of weeks ago, thank you to Graeme Jones for the continuing valuable support in getting behind the collective purpose of Fintech Scotland.
Collaborative Purpose
Attending the Can Do Business Innovation Forum chaired by Government Minister Paul Wheelhouse on Tuesday was another example of the power of collective purpose through collaboration. Representatives from all sectors of the economy sharing how innovation can really drive inclusive growth and deliver positive outcomes for people and enterprises. I was particularly inspired when talking to entrepreneur Reemah Shanab and learning about her business Lucidly.
The Can Do meeting reiterated to me the benefits of cross sector collaboration to drive innovation and growth and this was further demonstrated when I met up with Alexander Holt to hear how CivTech is making such a huge difference in the public sector.
I’m sure Alexander won’t mind me saying but for me he is very much role model in driving real practical change with a strong sense of purpose. Alexander and his team have already been working with fintechs such as Wallet Services and there is much we can build on especially in the area of payments. Talking with Colin, Director of Digital at the Scottish Government further showed me we have a huge common purpose around this.
The broader collaborative purpose was very much in evident in my discussions with Maggie Craig at the FCA this last few weeks which is really valuable as the fintech ecosystem develops in Scotland
On Thursday, there was the opportunity to get together with Scotland’s many exciting fintechs enterprises from across the ecosystem at the Practitioners Forum.
The key areas of discussion were growing talent in Scotland and getting the right quality of investment in place and committed investors on board to help scale and grow. Terrific insights (again) from Stuart Lunn of LendingCrowd
My conversation with the impressive Steven Morris of ESM Investments this week was really insightful on how we could take some steps to address some of the funding issues in the fintech ecosystem at the moment.I am hoping to take forward a couple of ideas and they will certainly be forming a key part of the FinTech Scotland strategic plan and will be key if we are to achieve our ambitious goals for fintech in Scotland.
Another aspect I have on our strategic agenda is how to help fintech enterprises navigate the range of funding solutions available to them at present ranging from public funding through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Funds, to the University Innovations Funds to the mix of R&D relief allowances available.
In this respect, very appreciative of the guidance on public funding opportunities by Steve Harrison from Scottish Enterprise a positive change agent who is helping good ideas flourish in across the ecosystem.
Going forward, the focus hear will be to make sure we are much better at connecting the funds available to the innovators and entrepreneurs. In this respect, I’m delighted that Matt Smith, Kent Mackenzie and the Deloitte team will be playing a valuable role in helping us in these areas.
The other hot subject over the last fortnight and from fintech practitioners is finding talented people to support business growth and this is a subject I know Scotland can further excel in.
The visit to the Technology and Innovation Centre of Strathclyde University was a fantastic testament to the strength of the skills development taking place in Scotland at the moment. Wow!
Having a terrific working session with academic leaders from all part of the Strathclyde University highlighted how to me the new opportunities in fintech can be embraced and I am very excited on how we progress on a number of fronts together.
Big thanks to Adrian Gillespie and Team Strathclyde.
The bringing together of academia and industry was further brought alive on Thursday evening when I was given the opportunity to join a distinguished speaking panel at the University of Edinburgh Business School event.The subject was Cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin!” Captivating words from amazing Professor Chris Speed of Edinburgh College of Arts and insightful Tim Jones of Tibado meant I only needed to play a small bit part thankfully! Brilliantly chair Bill McCall of Chartered Bankers Institute.
The fintech people skills agenda also presents the opportunity to bring alive our purpose of being more inclusive and I was delighted to catch up with the inspiring leader Promilla Caughey of EY Foundation.
Promilla’s work in creating opportunities for young people from less advantaged background is something we will very much embrace and part of the fintech bigger purpose.
My favourite music has always given me a strong sense of purpose beyond fintech and last Friday I had chance to see live one of my musical hero’s Swill at the Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh along with the legendary Bobby Valentino.
What a wonderful evening and I can’t wait to see Swill with the rest of the awesome band, The Men They Couldn’t Hang, back together again for the gig in Glasgow at King Tut’s in December, anyone want to join me for probably one of the best bands in the world!This weekend I’ll be running with purpose in a half marathon race, enjoying the beautiful city of Stirling as I prepare for the big Edinburgh marathon in four weeks! Until next time
15 million potential users for Pensions Dashboard
The dashboard launch date (end 2019) is still seen as achievable but will need to be built to support such a high demand. The results of this research should therefore help establishing the requirements.
A need for flexibility
Anthony Rafferty, Managing Director Origo, says: “It is imperative that the industry is able to deliver and maintain all the underlying services and data in a way that is secure, robust and scalable to handle 15 million consumers.”
Flexibility is therefore paramount from day 1 as Anthony Rafferty explained: “Through our role as the industry’s not-for-profit FinTech, we have also been advising on the impact of this large consumer base on pension provider systems. The demands on some provider systems, as requests from 15 million consumers come in and information goes out, will need to be managed effectively ”“ all while still providing a secure and efficient online service.”
Customer outcome as a key driver
In parallel with the development of the Pension Dashboard, the Single Financial Guidance Body is set to launch in order to help people with important and complex decisions when it comes to retirement. For this body and for existing financial advisers it is important that the Pension Dashboard not only meet requirements from an end customer perspective but also those of 3rdparties.
Rafferty continues: “Consumer engagement and access to advice and guidance are crucial to improved retirement planning. The additional capacity required to enable the Single Financial Guidance Body and financial advisers to access a consumer’s Pensions Dashboard needs to be planned for.
“Whether the decision is to start with a single government-backed dashboard, or with multiple dashboards – it is imperative that the underlying infrastructure, the plumbing, be developed with an eye to future demand and requirements and be maintained in a cost-effective and efficient way that consistently delivers sensitive information securely. “
Fortnightly FinTech Fuse ”“ Going Global
One of the key objectives for FinTech Scotland is to contribute to putting the country on the global fintech map and this last two weeks has given us the opportunity to build a presence on the international stage.
Collaboration is key when going on the global stage and this is very much reinforced by the fact that Avaloq are one of the founding private sector partners of Fintech Scotland.
With the one hundred strong research and development team based in Edinburgh, Avaloq has built a tremendous reputation as a leading international fintech firm adopting a global footprint and mindset to drive innovation in the financial services sector.
Global Collaboration
Last week we had the opportunity to share Scotland’s global credentials and aspirations with two sets of guests from the Far East.
On Wednesday we met with four very innovative fintech enterprises from Hong Kong who had expressed an interest in expanding in the West and learning about Scotland’s fintech landscape which we were delighted to go into a great amount of depth on.
Then on Friday, with the excellent Graham Hatton and the brilliant Shirin Pang from Scottish Development International, we met with Sopnendu Mohanty, the Chief Fintech Officer from the Monetary Authority of Singapore and his team.
There was much to learn from these meetings and what particularly struck me was the fact the we were very much aligned in emphasising the importance of collaboration and inclusion in our fintech agendas.
Global Events
Earlier in the week Mickael and I had spent a couple of days in London at the Innovation Finance Global Summit sharing Scotland’s fintech strengths with our counterparts from international centres from around the globe, from Bahrain to Holland to USA to China to Africa.
Building these worldwide connections is going to valuable as we seek to encourage more fintech firms to consider Scotland as an ideal place for their international expansion as well as potentially opening doors to our home grown fintech enterprises to expand on the global stage.
The Summit gave us the opportunity to also catch up with Julian Wells and the team from FinTech North, our neighbours from across the border, who are doing a fabulous job in building the profile of the exciting fintech developments across Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool.
We are delighted we will have the opportunity to share the conference platform with the FinTech North team at their Spring events as we look to collaborate on future initiatives .
A big thank you to Kent Mackenzie and the Deloitte team for facilitating our various engagements at the Summit. One of the highlights being of the Summit was to hear Louise Brett give one of the best presentations on the role of fintech as a progressive force for good, especially in improving diversity in the sector.
The value of diversity and inclusion was the key theme for our third Fintech Scotland symposium on Tuesday evening.
Awesome personal leadership stories were told by Jackie Waring of Investing Women, Loral Quinn of Sustainably, June Cook of ShareIn and Yvonne Dunn of Pinsent Masons, all made more special as the session was live streamed around the globe for those who could not join us in Edinburgh
A huge thanks to Yvonne, Hollie and the Pinsent Mason team for their fabulous hospitality for the event
Global Data
On the subject of events, the really big event in the last fortnight was, of course, DataFest which was a wonderful demonstration of how Scotland’s data driven innovation very much shines on the global stage across all sectors of the economy and society.
Thanks to Pardeep Cassells of BNP Paribus and Raymond Wales of Scottish Investment Operations, I had the opportunity to share thoughts on all things fintech and data driven innovation with a broad section of people from the international asset management sector in Scotland
We had a great conversation on the fintech issues ranging from collaboration to skills development and I am looking forward progressing these further in the coming months.
What a spectacular series of DataFest activities and events across the whole of the country over the week that the truly amazing Gillian Docherty and the DataLab team put on. What an inspiring role model leadership team DataLab are for all of us.
Later that week, meeting with the Sean Harkin to discuss how we can help his new data driven fintech enterprise, Symmetry Analytics, further demonstrated to me very clearly that we have the expertise and leaders in Scotland to use the data explosion in our lives to make a positive difference through value add innovation.
Global Leaders
Talking of global leaders, I’ve had the opportunity in recent weeks to meet with some brilliant people who are helping me think about how Scotland really does put itself on the global map for fintech.
Such as Paul Kiernan who has been terrific to work alongside connecting us with Australian fintech firms who are looking to establish themselves in Europe and Scotland. Thanks Paul you are a star player in the fintech world.
Then, it was absolutely fantastic to meet up last week with the truly inspiring Promilla Caughy from the EY Foundation who was recently recognized on the international stage as an Inspirational Role Model’.
Promilla is very much my international role model with her deep experience of international engagement and cultures as well her people based can do mindset on global collaboration and inclusion.
Then on Monday evening, I was fortunate to have dinner with Parveen Kaur who is responsible for some of RBS major operations in India.
Learning about the huge leaps India is taking in the fintech world from Parveen was very thought provoking and I am hoping we can benefit from Parveen’s expertise as one of our international ambassadors going forward. Thanks Lou Smith for such a super evening of fintech discussion
Great to hear that one of our very own fintech leaders James Varga, chief executive of The ID Co has been selected to go on a trade mission to the USA next month to showcase the firm’s expertise and engage with senior stakeholders.
Global Running
The global theme is going to run on as I have been invited to go to New York to share Scotland’s fintech progress at events next week in the Big Apple. More on this in my next Fuse blog!
In between the various fintech commitments, the trip across the Atlantic will give me the opportunity to join an inspiring global friend of mine, Paul Skinner, for an early morning 6 mile run around Central Park and maybe a longer run at Flushing Meadows!
Before I embark on this global running treat I hope my planned ten mile race at Strathclyde Country Park on Sunday beats the weather and allows me to test out how much pace I have in my legs for the global excursions!
Scotland’s Fintech: A Tale of Two Cities or Two Towers? Part 2
“The old world will burn in the fires of industry. The forests will fall. A new order will rise. We will drive the machine of war with the sword and the spear and the iron fist”
JR Tolkien, The Two Towers, Lord of the Rings
Scotland’s Finance is enjoying a renaissance, a digital economy, should then history dictate tomorrow’s Fintech? In re-imagining Edinburgh versus London, the Two Towers, can Scotland compete as a viable alternative hub on grounds other than simply cost? In this Part 2, of the article, we explore the UK hub economy as it exists, versus regional ecosystems outside of London and the role education has to play? This then is no history lesson..
Old paradigms, new challenges
Our focus for Fintech naturally gravitates towards Edinburgh and its historical ties with London (the City’)? London and Edinburgh make a fine pair, Tolkien’s Minas Morgul and Orthanc, his Two Towers’. Indeed Edinburgh has served its London master well as an affordable outsourcing location and profited from it. In Part 1 we highlighted the operational leverage of outsourcing jobs from London to Edinburgh.
Whilst cheap has always been attractive; lower paid roles can become quickly commoditised. The first indication of the danger was global-sourcing to the likes of India. Here executives were exploring new lower cost locations. Just as our industry was coming to terms with globalisation it got hit by the Great Financial Crisis. The sense of being at the brink’ changed the long term strategies of many boards and many roles have been targeted by Digitalisation sooner. If you hear agile working’ at work then buckle up.
Unsurprisingly decision-makers and executives tend to be a little shy when it comes to their own synthesis. That will come later. The near-term problem is when those attractively valued skills become superfluous to automation. Fewer roles become a negative feedback leading to emigration, fewer graduate roles, resulting in brain drain, making the country less attractive to investment.
The fintech opportunity
Is then Fintech threat or opportunity? It is a question I am sure that my friend Professor Chris Sier asked himself when he became a champion for the Northern PowerHouse’ and establishment of its Fintech hub (Fintech North’). The reality is that over the last 50 years the UK has moved from manufacturing to a service-based economy and with it the North of England lost its economic leverage in the investment and political apparatus within UK Plc.
Meanwhile Scotland (specifically Edinburgh) benefitted from that industry rotation just as the North, Birmingham and other parts of Scotland suffered. Why? Today UK Plc, unlike say Germany, operates a single hub economy that has gravitated wealth and investment around London, the South of England and Edinburgh. London, itself as a global city, a metropolis of both finance, commerce and politics. It enjoys the multiplier effect that stems from such agglomeration, greater GDP per capita and tax receipts, just as other parts of the UK suffer flat or falling GDP, wage disinflation and stagnant productivity.
Technology then can be THE great enabler, a means to rebalance the economic hot spots of the UK. However it is vulnerable to policy error, inward and external investment naturally gravitating towards London, as new Technology companies seek to target Finance firms from Old Street across to Finsbury Square and into the heart of EC2 and Threadneedle. In doing so they set up shop close by.
Dickens or Tolkien?
The sheer gravity of London cannot be underestimated and it leaves the other centres vying for the scraps. How then should Edinburgh and Scotland respond? Coordination. Either Scotland (Edinburgh) seeks to pursue Dickens’ tale of two cities’, competing directly and openly with London, or are we left in a somewhat Tolkien-esque the Two Towers’ scenario, un-separable and subservient? Do we continue to operate as a satellite of the UK capital or increasingly compete for innovation and inward and external investment? This is the key question I pose to Fintech Scotland, under the stewardship of my friend and ex colleague Stephen Ingledew.
After all, Edinburgh (as the de facto main financial centre of Scotland) has effectively defined itself as much by its relationship to the City of London as it has through its own trading status. This link has been further reinforced as US banks set up front office operations in London and back office in Scotland, extending the tendrils between the two. Yet that relationship looks far less secure in a digitalised world for two reasons.
Firstly traditional Finance is in long-run demise and disintermediation, with it relationships between firms are changing from partner to competitor, as the value chain compresses. In the race for operational supremacy, insourcing becomes outsourcing in a capital lite’ world as employees are unceremoniously morphed into the Gig economy. You just need to count full time employees (FTE) v contractor heads in any of today’s big Finance firms to smell the coffee.
Secondly the requirement for affordable moderately skilled administrative staff, as an outsource centre for London, will become less attractive. Workforces in traditional roles will reduce simply as an effect of Digitalisation. We need only examine the realities of the once Scottish Insurance and Banking leviathans; now ostensibly under the control of firms South of the border or overseas. Workforces are rarely preserved on grounds of nostalgia or political intervention. Competitiveness, tax breaks, public-private partnership and or some other economic or political incentives are needed.
London, “the precious”?
The shifting political landscape, North-South divide, rise of Labour populism and Brexit paranoia appears to have drawn out a more inclusive tone in the Government’s latest strategy thinking.
“It is also a strategy that recognises and respects the devolution settlements of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. With many of the policies that can drive productivity being devolved, it
is a strategy that necessarily brings our work together with that of the devolved administrations as we work in partnership to get the best possible outcome for every part of the UK.”
IS the One-Britain-One-Fintech a dangerous game to play?
Outwardly it is clear the UK Government is battling hard to maintain its balance (see chart) of foreign inward investment post Brexit. Inwardly it seeks to appease the industry outside of London that it is doing all that it can to build better commute links back into the Capital. This policy is not about evenly spreading investment but enhancing the City’s global standing as a hub, which the Conservatives still laud since the Big Bang’.
Why Edinburgh shouldn’t be the new London
The challenge then for Scotland is to compete but also to not replicate the single-hub flaw of the UK model. We should invest and promote Fintech across Scotland’s centres not simply hub its focus around Edinburgh. It is very attractive to run your winners but we need to think about the shape of Scotland’s economy in 25 years from now, not just the next 5 years. Fintech like other modern industries should be an opportunity to replace the old primary and secondary industries lost over the last 50 years, the main driver of unemployment, low wage growth, migration and low productivity in the regions.
Our close neighbours at Fintech North’ are well aware of the challenge. As Chris Sier noted: “There is a deep vein of skills, resources and opportunity in the Northern Powerhouse, but for its potential to be realised it is important that we build a strong FinTech community, which means the public and private sectors coming together and enlisting the support of key stakeholders such as our universities.. Over the last year there have been many positive developments in building the FinTech economy in the UK outside of London, including the FCA’s regional sandbox, the impending launch of Nexus at Leeds University and a number of other initiatives. Events like FinTech North help build the regional FinTech community, and supporting them is therefore very important to grow the regional and national FinTech economy.”
It is important then to have a consistent voice in London and overseas. Fintech Scotland, Scottish Financial Enterprise and Scottish Development International (SDI) can provide this, a voice that represents the Scottish Fintech industry as a whole. Outwardly we should seek to partner firms in London while competing where possible for; investment, for students, for intellectual and entrepreneurial capital. After all to create a self-sustaining Fintech ecosystem requires; initial capital + intellectual capital + workforce + start up ventures + ongoing external investment. Just as Chris Sier realised, inwardly we need to encourage competition but also collegiate working across the different Fintech hubs and incubators in Scotland; Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Stirling and others.
New paradigms, new opportunities
Whilst history in Finance carries little utility anymore; Scotland can still leverage its rich and long pedigree of learning and quality tertiary centres to bridge the old economy to the new. For example if we look at the current Fintech courses available in Scotland today then we can see they are distributed across the major centres not just Edinburgh. A quick google search of UK Fintech courses lists the new prestigious Oxford and Imperial courses as the top results.
However it was the University of Strathclyde that offered the first Fintech Masters course in the UK, Stirling followed shortly after with its new Masters course ready for the 2018 intake. Meanwhile Edinburgh University, in the now classical Oxbridge model, created Fintech Innovations’ and, in conjunction with the Scottish Government and private sector, to form Fintech Scotland.
The locality is understandable but the focus must extend far beyond auld reekie and just one university. . We should remember that our own Universities are in direct competition for research, overseas students and, within their own walls, competition between faculties for funding exists. We need to short-circuit these frictional fiefdoms. In learning Finance and Fintech will become interchangeable.
The mission of Fintech Scotland is “FinTech Scotland aims to promote sustainable economic growth through innovation, collaboration and inclusion.” It is the last word that is so critical. I was encouraged by Stephen’s first update as CEO, which promises an inclusive approach to embrace collegiate investment and partnerships and meetings both in and outside of Edinburgh.
So step forth Fintech Scotland. My advice to Stephen Ingledew is to be bold when competing with London but to not repeat the mistake of London. After all we are only five million people and geographically and digitally just next door to one another. Put another way we number significantly less than the London metropolis. Our infrastructure links (bar the far North and South) are far more able to support our population than the road-jammed, high-rise, tube squeezed malaise of London.
Let us create a sustainable, multi-centre, ecosystem to share Fintech skills, build synergies, foster accessible learning and opportunities both inside and outside of the University system. In doing so Scotland galvanises itself as a centre of technological advancement on the global stage, to attract students and investors and from that catalyse start-up hubs around those centres. A nice example could be linking Strathclyde University with Stirling University courses, cross-over projects between Finance and Fintech syllabus and tapping into the gaming industry in Dundee.
The idea of exploring Gamification in Fintech would be pretty obvious in California yet not here. Strange. By building creative and collegiate links, between learning centres, Scottish Fintech becomes a vibrant multi-hub success, fully leveraging the talents across Scotland and not localised around one centre. Otherwise we risk Fintech becoming little more than a defensive strategy to protect the current industry rather than something altogether more ambitious and progressive. Recall I posed whether Scotland’s Fintech should resemble Two Towers’ or Two Cities’? What would Dickens think; what indeed would Gandalf the Grey?
The future of Scottish Fintech is neither. It is something new, not something set in the past. Stephen has the most amazing and challenging role ahead of him to achieve that.
Scottish Friendly launches challenger brand
My Prime, is innovative in that it offers a low cost investment ISA to higher net worth customers. The solution is all about streamlining cumbersome fund selection processes.
However, whilst the product is interesting what is really good to see is the change of focus from commercial to customer-led.
Scottish Friendly’s Commercial Director, Neil Lovatt, said: “With My Prime Investments we’ve created a brand that aims to provide investments that have the needs of the potential customer firmly in mind. The rest of the industry remains fixated on creating bewildering products and then attempts to fix’ the customer.
“Our mission is to fix the product. So we’re always putting the needs of the customer first, by offering straightforward investing, to entice more people to invest.”
This piece of content isn’t financial promotion and we are not promoting Scottish Friendly’s product. This blog doesn’t constitute advice. Our goal is to inform on the launch of a new brand.
Scotland’s Fintech: A Tale of Two Cities or Two Towers? Part 1
By JB Beckett. In re-imagining Scotland’s new vibrant digital economy, should the history of today’s Finance dictate tomorrow’s Fintech (Financial Technology) map of Scotland? Is Scotland’s Finance and its Fintech tied to London or somehow distinct? Yes or no. In this first of a 2-part article, we explore the dichotomy of enjoying and suffering being a satellite to a hub economy, as Edinburgh is to London. This then is no history lesson..
Historical ties
In the UK when we talk Finance, two cities are quickly mentioned. London and Edinburgh. As most know, Edinburgh’s illustrious financial services history dates back centuries, to the establishment of The Bank of Scotland in 1695 to support the growth of Scottish business, RBS in 1696, the banks placed Scotland on the financial map of the UK despite competition from London. They later bank-rolled the City of London. It saw the introduction of paper money in Scotland; it opened up the opportunity for trade south of the border and the renaissance of a geometric-Anglo city for the modern Georgian world: the Edinburgh New Town.
However should our focus for Fintech revolve around solely Edinburgh and its historical ties with London (the City’)? Standing as the two key financial centres of UK Finance, London and Edinburgh make a fine pair, what Tolkien might have named Minas Morgul and Orthanc, his Two Towers’. Unassailable in their power share. However as Dickens wrote in a Tale of Two Cities’, the opportunity is also a threat:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way””in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
Scotland’s financial sector
“Through the centuries,” said Graeme Jones, Chief Executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise, to a reporter “our financial scene has played a huge part in the fabric and prosperity of Scotland as a whole”. He’s right of course, the addition to banking, the increase of international trade during the 1700s led to marine insurance. Then a growing demand for life insurance during the Napoleonic Wars: families of soldiers paying premiums in anticipation of the worst. Scottish Widows was established in 1815 to service those war widows and remains today in name (albeit a subsidiary of Lloyd’s Bank).
Meanwhile Scotland’s rich tapestry in asset management can trace roots back to Robert Fleming and the first ever investment trust in 1873. In Dundee, Robert saw the massive profits being made by the owners of Dundee’s jute industry and realised they needed to invest it somewhere. It was a model that would be copied across the rest of the UK. Then with every new development in Scottish financial services, so grew the legal profession, the accountancy and Actuarial profession, academic institutions, mathematics, economics, in Edinburgh.
“It’s clear to see,” says Graeme, “that the origins of the Scottish financial services industry aren’t predated anywhere in the UK. As we started to export and import, our home-grown economy started to grow.” Edinburgh thus stands aloft proudly on its heritage; even if millennials today might as easily interpret heritage as old’. Don’t forget that Amazon was only created in 1994 yet millennials cannot remember BA (Before Amazon) and that Jeff Bezos has a balance sheet larger than the entire Scottish Finance industry in totality.
Scotland, using experience to prepare the future
Today, Scotland’s Finance employs around 100,000 people directly and a similar amount again in support services. Scotland’s financial services sector is a vast economy compared to the size of its total populous. In a post-industrial, post-manufacturing age it is one of the country’s biggest sectors, generating around £8 billion for the home economy per annum.
Consequently Scotland is becoming an attractive base for the Fintech entrepreneurs and Edinburgh (the UK’s largest financial hub outside of London) lies at the heart of it all.
Unreservedly, Edinburgh has prospered both through Retail Banking, Insurance, Life Assurance, Wealth Management, Fund Management and Asset servicing on behalf of UK and global institutions. While Edinburgh’s own financial exchange (the smoker’) is long gone; Scottish-based employees have continued to provide expertise in securities servicing, investment accounting, performance measurement, trustee and depositary services and treasury services since London’s Big Bang’ in 86 and before.
Post 2009, Edinburgh has again helped mitigate the recessional pressures across the rest of Scotland for the better part of a decade. That and devolution being a defining feature versus the North of England. Yes, Edinburgh has enjoyed a long history in Finance and its links with the City remain as strong ever since the Scottish Banks capitalised and founded the Bank of England. Scotland’s Economic and Actuarial sciences have been the very DNA of Finance ever since.
However the role of Edinburgh is not assured simply by history, the brand names that still occupy it or by virtue of attractive postcards on Princes Street. Edinburgh is a fantastic city to work in, often wet but full of fresh air that someone in Shoreditch could only dream as they knock elbows for space, tabbing through green space images on social media as they sip their tenner’s worth of artisan flat white.
Scotland, a fintech capital
As effectively ground zero’, then, after 200 years of shaping the modern (old) Anglo-Saxon finance industry, Scotland’s commutation to Financial-Technology (fintech’) or Finance 2.0 asks probing questions about our collective will to transform. It is about new skills but also a new persona of what Scotland’s Finance will look like, how it will be shared and shaped by Fintech. This has far reaching social, economic and political questions that reach deep into our collective psyche, ambitions, collegiate working practices, start-up investment, regional disparities and culture.
How does Scotland become a true global Fintech centre to rival London, Berlin, New York or the Bay area? As Dylan sang times are a changing’. Once the actuaries of Edinburgh and Glasgow held court for the industry, but those days are fading fast. The mutual giants demutualised then quickly became owned by non Scottish conglomerates. As the older actuaries retire they leave behind over 70% of members of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries under the age of 40 and over 50% of members being non qualified students. Actuaries are already somewhat redundant in terms of predictive modelling but eek sufficient living from changes in longevity rates, cash flow matching and quasi investment analysis. They face an uncertain future as adaptive intelligence and self-learning synthesises, assimilates and optimises 200 years of Actuarial rules in the blink of an eye.
Moreover, in excess of 35,000 people work in Edinburgh’s financial and insurance quarter while more than 90% of all Scottish fund managers (like Baillie Gifford) are based in the city region. Many firms represented host asset servicing teams, client management but fairly minimal front office except for home-grown firms like Baillie Gifford, Scottish Value Management and Kames. The city is home to Europe’s second largest asset fund manager, Standard Life Aberdeen, as well as retail and challenger banks, platforms, Actuarial consultancies and ethical finance providers. In many cases the majority of the staff can be typified as support function or middle Office’ just as the majority of Glasgow’s workforce might be described as back office’ or more politely operational support’.
An urgent need to change gear
All of these roles will be reduced in some way, as companies shift CapEx from people to technology. Even without Brexit, in 10 years we only see 10% of those current roles left in their current form. Some will disappear, others change. Those decisions will be made in London, Paris or New York not Edinburgh. If that’s true then the productivity enjoyed by Edinburgh from London today will deteriorate.
That leaves a hole in the Scottish economy that Fintech must aim to fill. Only slightly less gloomy, a 2017 report by the Centre of Financial Regulation and Innovation by Strathclyde Business School in Glasgow revealed that Scotland could, in a worst-case scenario, lose over 14,063 jobs (14%) in its financial services sector over a 10-year period, the worst-case prediction seeing a loss of £597m in taxable salaries. Conversely in a best-case scenario, investing in Fintech could inversely “lead to the creation of an additional 14,959 jobs in the Scottish banking industry” adding £1.1bn back to Scotland’s taxable income. The report’s co-author, Daniel Broby, told the Herald Scotland that the two outcomes call for a streamlined and coordinated’ approach for the development and adoption of Fintech.