Five Fintechs Awarded £50,000 Grants to Strengthen Operational Resilience Across the UK Financial Sector

The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL) is pleased to announce the five organisations selected to receive grants following its latest Innovation Call. These grants will support the development and deployment of solutions that strengthen industry resilience, operational capability, and regulatory responsiveness.

The Innovation Call, developed in collaboration with FinTech Scotland, Supertech WM, the University of Glasgow and the University of Strathclyde concluded on the 2^nd of October at a Showcase Day.

Over a 6 week programme, innovators worked with industry leaders Sword Group, NatWest, Morgan Stanley, M&G, Pinsent Masons, Tesco Bank, Aberdeen, KPMG, EY, Dudley Building Society, Tipton & Coseley Building Society and Unity Trust Bank, to develop, refine and adapt their solutions to real industry needs.

Following the showcase Day, 5 Scottish companies were selected to receive £50,000 each to develop their solutions further. These firms will continue to work with industry partners throughout the grant period to support their development. Those firms are:

Profylr

https://www.profylr.co.uk

Profylr builds intelligent, AI-powered solutions that connect the minutiae of regulation with firms’ data, transforming compliance from reactive oversight into predictive intelligence. Powered by their Information Genetics® proprietary technology, Profylr makes compliance live, linked, and undeniable giving firms the clarity, confidence, and control regulators can trust.

Ionburst

https://ionburst.io

An intuitive, easy to use solution that secures data across Cloud and updates its security classification on demand, protecting it from threats like ransomware even when out of sight or control of its owner. Acclaimed by cybersecurity leaders as the “next essential building block in secure Cloud,” Ionburst delivers what no Cloud provider can, a unified secure Cloud.

HAELO

https://www.haelo.io

HAELO delivers automated global regulatory horizon scanning. It tracks changes across hundreds of regulators and millions of documents, distilling actionable insights, reducing manual burden, and helping firms stay ahead of regulatory changes.

Continuity2

https://continuity2.com

Continuity2 Ltd is a provider of a multi disciplined software platform for operational resilience. The platform includes business continuity, ITDR, enterprise risk and incident management.

Lupovis

https://www.lupovis.io

Lupovis delivers real-time contextual cyber security threat intelligence enabled by a deception environment, providing early identification of advanced attacks and insider threats while reducing false positives.

Nicola Anderson, Chief Executive of FinTech Scotland, said:

“Operational resilience is essential for a trusted financial services industry. Through the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab, we’re seeing fintech innovation directly address these priorities, shaping practical solutions that strengthen the UK’s financial infrastructure. The quality of collaboration between innovators, industry partners and regulators in this programme demonstrates the power of purposeful innovation.”

Rob Mossop, COO, Financial Services and International, Sword Group said:

“Sword is proud to have supported this innovation call and are looking forward to seeing how the successful grant recipients will develop their ideas into practical solutions. Operational resilience is a critical concern for customers across Financial Services, and it has been exciting to work with Fintech Scotland and fellow partners – both industry and academic – to see how the participating organisations have addressed critical use cases with innovative solutions and a passion for building more resilient financial infrastructure.”

Building on the success of this operational resilience programme, FRIL has now launched its next UK-wide Innovation Call focused on the future of Wealth support and advice.

Innovating firms across the UK are encouraged to apply and collaborate with industry partners to shape the future of inclusive, data-driven financial advice and guidance.

Anne Lanc – Co-Founder, Ionburst said:

“We’re delighted and honoured to be selected to receive the grant to develop our solution further. FRIL was a great opportunity for us to connect with a wide range of Financial Institutions and advisors to both understand their specific challenges, and showcase Ionburst’s cutting edge innovation in addressing a problem plaguing digital economies globally – how to secure, protect & recover data in any Cloud. FRIL was a great experience, very well run and one I’d recommend to other Fintechs with relevant solutions”

Rhona Kennedy, Head of Business Development, C2:

“FinTech Scotland’s FRIL initiative is an amazing opportunity to build solid relationships, gain feedback on products and insight into the incredible talent and ambition in the Scottish FinTech community. The funding is amazing, but it is the partnerships and support which really make this programme worthwhile.”

Mick O’Connor, Founder, HAELO:

“FRIL was a gamechanger for HAELO. To be able to attend deep dive sessions with customers and directly hear their candid experiences is commercial gold dust”

Caroline Steel, COO, Profylr:

“The FRIL challenges are instrumental to fintech growth in Scotland. The opportunity to gain further industry insight and collaborate with a strategic partner is invaluable.”

Ivan Andonovic, CSO, Lupovis:

“FRIL provides evolving companies wishing to secure market traction in the financial sector such as Lupovis with a co-development environment with end users that allows the creation of fit-for-purpose solutions that reduce the barrier to adoption.”

The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab is part of the larger Glasgow City Region Innovation Accelerator programme. Led by Innovate UK on behalf of UK Research and Innovation, the pilot Innovation Accelerators programme invested £100m in 26 transformative R&D projects between 2022-25 to accelerate the growth of three high-potential innovation ecosystems – Glasgow City Region, Greater Manchester and West Midlands. The programme was boosted by an additional £30m of public funding for 2025/26 spread equally across the regions. Innovation Accelerators is piloting a new model of R&D decision making that empowers local partnerships to harness innovation to drive regional economic growth, attract private investment, and develop future technologies.

TradeGaze

Nationwide Innovation Call Launches to Bridge the UK’s Financial Advice Gap

A coalition of leading financial institutions including PWC, NatWest, Barclays, Standard Life, M&G, Lloyds Banking Group, Dudley Building Society and BNP Paribas Personal Finance have joined forces to launch a UK-wide innovation challenge to explore how technology can reshape consumer access to financial support A coalition of leading financial institutions including PWC, NatWest, Barclays, Standard Life, M&G, Lloyds Banking Group, Dudley Building Society and BNP Paribas Personal Finance have joined forces to launch a UK-wide innovation challenge to explore how technology can reshape consumer access to financial support at the critical advice-guidance boundary. Delivered in partnership with FinTech Scotland through the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), and collaborating with SuperTech WM to help expand the reach and impact across the UK, this initiative calls on fintech innovators to co-create next-generation solutions that can help consumers make more confident and informed financial decisions.

The Advice-Guidance Boundary Review (AGBR) is the Financial Conduct Authority’s key vehicle to deliver on its “promote growth” objective within the 2025–2030 strategy and has sparked significant conversation across the industry due to the fundamental changes it could bring. At its core, the review responds to a growing concern that there is an advice gap with too many consumers in the UK not receiving the financial help they need. Examining the boundary between financial advice and other forms of support will allow the AGBR to enable financial organisations unlock new, more effective ways of meeting consumer needs, particularly when it comes to managing their future finances.

To continue the conversation, the new FRIL Innovation Call invites fintech innovators to develop next-generation solutions that make financial support more personalised, inclusive, and accessible, helping firms better understand diverse client bases and consumer needs and values and ensuring regulatory compliance and protecting consumers.

Developed in close collaboration with regulators, academics, and industry partners, the programme will test how digital tools, data-driven models, and new approaches to consumer engagement can help bridge the advice gap, support firms in growing their client bases and aligning with the FCA’s evolving expectations. The challenge is looking for practical, scalable solutions that empower consumers to make better-informed financial decisions whether through targeted support that stops short of regulated advice, or through models of simplified advice that are easier to deliver and to understand. In doing so, it will help firms meet Consumer Duty obligations while opening more inclusive ways to serve consumers.

FRIL’s innovation challenge will explore use cases including:

Targeted Support at scale through AI and data-driven insights
Interactive, user-centric customer disclosures
Consumer education, literacy, and trust-building tools
Compliance technologies that support advice-boundary monitoring
Automated planning and scenario-modelling tools
Cross-platform data aggregation enabled by Open Finance

Successful applicants will have the opportunity to work directly with major financial institutions, gaining valuable insights into the future of Wealth Advice, access academic expertise at the University of Strathclyde and the University of Glasgow, and may also be eligible for up to £50,000 in grant funding to accelerate the development of their solution. The programme will culminate in a showcase event in Glasgow, where participating fintechs will present to industry, regulatory, and academic leaders.

FinTech firms from across the globe are encouraged to apply before the deadline on 3 November. More details can be found here.

Nicola Anderson, CEO of FinTech Scotland: “This challenge is a milestone in the journey towards a more inclusive financial services sector. By bringing together fintech innovators, regulators, and industry leaders, we can design practical solutions that empower consumers to make informed decisions while ensuring firms navigate the advice boundary responsibly.”

Fraser Wilson, Financial Services Partner & Head of FS Regions at PWC: “The Advice Guidance Boundary Review is an opportunity to reshape how our industry empowers people to make confident financial decisions. By harnessing technology and collaborating with fintech innovators through the FRIL programme, we can help firms deliver more personalised, accessible support – closing the advice gap and strengthening financial resilience for individuals and communities”.

Andy Young, Head of Digital and User Experience at Standard Life: “This challenge is a real opportunity to rethink how our industry supports people through retirement. We’re excited to collaborate across the sector to drive digital innovation, expand access to financial guidance – especially for underserved groups – and help build a future where everyone feels confident in their choices.”

Tim Grey, Strategy and Transformation Director at M&G Advice: “We’re pleased to be part of this innovation programme exploring the Advice Guidance Boundary Review. At M&G, we believe innovation in this space is important to helping bridge the advice gap and assist customers to achieve better outcomes.”

Hilary Smyth Allen, CEO of SuperTech:“This innovation call is a natural extension on our partnership with FRIL and FinTech Scotland, building on previous work leveraging innovation to improve customer outcomes which remains a high priority for West Midlands’ financial services institutions. It’s another unique opportunity and one where the cross-UK approach is adding depth and breadth to the experience for businesses and innovators in developing next generation services”.

Maria Herrero Bullich, Chief Customer & Digital Officer, Insurance, Pensions & Investments at Lloyds Banking Group: “Through our Scottish Widows business we’re helping build a better financial future for our customers. This challenge provides a fantastic opportunity to unlock more tailored, inclusive and digitally-enabled ways to support people in the UK navigate their financial futures with confidence. By collaborating across the industry, we aim to help close the advice gap and deliver better outcomes for everyone.”

Future-Ready Skills in Financial Regulation: AI, RegTech and ESG Leadership

Alessio Azzutti, John Finch and Xiang Li, of the University of Glasgow, introduce two new professional courses for our FinTech, Financial Services and Financial Regulation communities, introduced as part of the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab project. Please do follow up with us by alessio.azzutti@glasgow.ac.uk, john.finch@glasgow.ac.uk, or xiang.li@glasgow.ac.uk

In today’s fast-changing and increasingly complex regulatory landscape, financial institutions face mounting challenges: rising compliance costs, increasingly sophisticated financial crime, outdated technological capabilities, and growing sustainability demands/pressures from stakeholders and activists. Faced with these pressures, professionals need to reskill and upskill, in particular in areas of AI, RegTech, and ESG leadership, to thrive and remain competitive.

About the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL)

As part of the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), we are committed to promoting the flourishing of human capital, particularly deepening the expertise in financial regulation among financial services, fintechs and regulators. We aim to make our university’s educational offering easily accessible and directly relevant to industry professionals to support both career and organisational development. Aspiring to excellence in what we do, we introduce learner-centred active learning approaches and incorporate real-life challenges into our teaching that help our course participants address the challenges they experience at work and develop and implement appropriate solutions.

Our FRIL team at the University of Glasgow has spent two and a half years living and breathing financial regulation innovation alongside our colleagues in financial services, fintech and regulation. The FRIL project involves us all in co-developing and collaborating on action research, knowledge exchange, and innovation calls, and our skills development theme, professional education courses, presented as short micro-credentials. By drawing together our insights from the FRIL project together with our expertise in research and learning and teaching in the University of Glasgow’s Adam Smith Business School and School of Law, we have developed two professional education courses in ‘AI, RegTech and Financial Compliance’ and ‘ESG Leadership’.

Our Learning Design Approach

Experiential and active learning inform our course design and approach to learning. This approach has been proven impactful in leadership, entrepreneurial, and professional education. It draws on wide-ranging experiences of working professionals in roles connected with the courses, across careers, supports participants in applying concepts and tools introduced in the course to workplaces, and facilitates reflections and discussions among participants through practical cases and in-course exercises.

The focus of the course content is informed by leading industry professionals involved in the action research and innovation calls, thereby ensuring close alignment with industry demands. Alongside expert-led lectures and interviews, participants immerse themselves in interactive activities—from tackling real-world compliance scenarios and innovation challenges to collaborative problem-solving with peers. This ensures learners move beyond concepts into the skills and confidence to navigate the complex intersection of financial regulation, compliance demands, sustainability, and AI solutions.

Course 1: AI, RegTech and Financial Compliance

Led by: Alessio Azzutti and Ian MacNeil

Context

With exploding regulatory requirements, rising costs, increasingly sophisticated financial crime, outdated systems, and shifting consumer expectations, financial compliance is becoming ever more demanding for regulated institutions. This urgent need for both business and technological innovation is driving the rise of Regulatory Technology (RegTech)—and particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI)—which is transforming how organisations respond. Lasting success, however, depends not only on innovative technology but also on professionals equipped to harness it.

Course details

This course progresses from AI and RegTech foundations to real-world applications, governance, emerging regulations, and future-ready compliance strategies. Assessment is fully practice-based: instead of traditional exams or theoretical essays, learners will complete a Capstone Project where they design an AI-enabled compliance solution, analyse its risks and governance, and map a personalised professional development pathway.

If you’re interested in this course, please email Alessio Azzutti at Alessio.Azzutti@glasgow.ac.uk.

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

Critically analyse and evaluate AI applications in financial compliance contexts.
Design theory-informed, effective, responsible, and future-ready solutions.
Position themselves as compliance professionals prepared to lead digital transformation in banking, finance, FinTech, consultancy, and regulatory bodies.

Course 2: ESG Leadership

Led by: Erika Anderson, John Finch and Xiang Li

Context

Complex and dynamic regulation remains a feature of sustainability and ESG reporting, with notable differences across regions and jurisdictions. Given the long-lived qualities of reputation, product and process, and the global reach of supply chains, investors, consumers, and business customers want to know about an organisation’s sustainability offer and profile. We focus on that point of transition—from compliance to strategy and leadership—highlighting the strategic approach to leveraging ESG insights to achieve both the organisation’s competitive advantage and reduction of material risks embedded in sustainability.

Course details

This course covers the regulatory framework and its implications for organisations and their supply chains, including sustainability reporting and disclosures as these address risk management and inform investment and investor stewardship. From reporting to transition, the course highlights the critical roles of strategic development, leadership and organisational change. We draw on case studies, short lectures, interviews with the community of practice, evaluations of current sustainability plans, and discussions among participants and our teaching team to facilitate participants’ learning.

View course details.

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

Evaluate an organisation’s sustainability performance from multiple perspectives.
Develop a comprehensive ESG/sustainability plan, integrating compliance with business strategy.
Lead organisational change by embedding ESG considerations into leadership and strategy.

Practical Information

AI, RegTech and Financial Compliance course: to be delivered in-person at the University of Glasgow between 16 October and 27 November 2025.
ESG Leadership course: to be delivered online in six weekly modules from late September 2025, with an option for participants to complete the assessment and claim 10 credits at the postgraduate level, which are recognised by the University of Glasgow.
Both courses will also be available online in early 2026.
Participants from both courses can receive a certificate of participation

Future-Proof Your Expertise

Whether your focus is mastering AI-enabled compliance or leading ESG transformation, these short courses will position you at the forefront of professional development. Join us to upskill/reskill, strengthen your expertise, prepare for your organisation’s transition, and lead confidently in a rapidly evolving financial landscape.

Supply Chain Intelligence: Actionable Risk Assessment of Brazilian Commodity Supply Chains Using Geospatial Data

Geospatial data is transforming sustainability risk assessment in Financial Services. Driven by mandatory regulations such as the EU’s CSRD and SFDR, alongside emerging standards such as TNFD, financial institutions must now monitor not just financial performance, but real-world environmental and social impacts across global supply chains.

This white paper showcases how geospatial data and asset-level geospatial analysis can be used as a support tool for supply chain impact monitoring. Specifically, we evaluate deforestation risks in Brazilian commodity supply chains. Using publicly available datasets and Google Earth Engine, we develop a reproducible risk scoring framework, applied to over 17,000 slaughterhouse facilities, tied to 9,854 companies, across Brazil.

This analysis:

Quantifies deforestation exposure across 12 animal-based commodities at facility and company level.
Creates actionable risk metrics for investors, lenders, and regulators.
Aligns outputs with ESG disclosure frameworks, including CSRD, SFDR, TNFD, and the EUDR.
Highlights high-risk companies and regions, providing clear signals for due diligence and sustainable finance strategy.

This paper is part of a broader move toward Earth Intelligent Finance, empowering financial actors to make faster, smarter, and more transparent sustainability decisions using geospatial insight.

Read the full whitepaper

Celebrating Scotland’s FinTech Champions

On Wednesday evening, the Scottish FinTech Awards returned to Edinburgh, bringing together the Scottish fintech cluster for a night of recognition, networking, and inspiration. The awards, organised by Digit and held as part of the Scotland FinTech Festival and hosted at the EICC recognised organisations and individuals pushing the frontier of financial innovation in Scotland.

The breadth of categories underscores how far fintech in Scotland has matured, from climate impact and digital transformation to partnership models, RegTech, and AI/data usage. This year saw a threefold increase in terms of entries which reinforces the claim to being a meaningful a leading fintech cluster, alive, competitive, and attracting global attention.

In the last 12 months the FinTech Scotland cluster recorded 8 % year-on-year employment growth in 2024 and 11,300 people are now working in fintech across Scotland.

The winners

FinTech of the Year: Loveelectric
Climate & Environmental Impact: CienDos
Best Start Up / New Entrant: Finspector
Best Use of Data / AI: Aveni
Digital Transformation: GoCodeGreen
Financial Services Innovation: Mylo (Aegon)
Financial Technology Partner: Snugg
Outstanding Leader: David Ferguson (Seccl)
Social Impact: Stellar Omada
Special Recognition: Adam Betteridge (TSB)
Evangelist: Sheetal Dash (Barclays)
Best Fintech Collaboration: Level E Research & Aberdeen

Best RegTech Innovation of the year

At FinTech Scotland, we were particularly proud to see the RegTech Innovation award go to the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL). It’s not just a win for FinTech Scotland but for the whole cluster as demonstrated by the diversity of people on stage to collect the awards from fintechs to established financial firms, from universities to FinTech Scotland colleagues.

The award is an affirmation of the vision behind FRIL and the collaborative approach we believe is essential to the future of regulation, compliance and consumer outcomes in financial services.

Regulatory Insights: September 2025 – Balancing Growth, Innovation and Consumer Protection

Our strategic partner Pinsent Masons has released the September edition of its FS Regulatory Risk Trends update, highlighting the latest developments shaping the UK regulatory landscape.

This third edition of 2025 comes at a time when government and regulators are under pressure to balance economic growth, innovation and competitiveness with strong consumer protection and the integrity of the financial system.

FCA focus: innovation with safeguards

The FCA continues to implement its five-year strategy, with an emphasis on innovation and efficiency. This quarter’s insights point to several areas of interest:

AI regulation and adoption: the FCA is engaging with the opportunities and risks around AI in financial services.
Payments innovation: consultations on contactless payments and targeted support show a regulatory push for consumer benefit and wider adoption.
Market infrastructure: the FCA has approved the first PISCES platform, a milestone for digital settlement systems.

Wider government initiatives

Alongside the FCA’s actions, HM Treasury is consulting on significant changes to the redress framework overseen by the FCA and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). These proposals could have a major impact on how firms manage complaints and consumer redress.

Risks on the horizon

While innovation is encouraged, firms also face heightened scrutiny. Recent regulatory activity includes:

Market reviews into retail insurance, digital customer journeys and premium finance.
Ongoing exploration of the future of cryptoasset regulation.
Criminal prosecutions linked to financial crime.
Preparations for an industry-wide redress scheme following the Supreme Court motor finance case in August.

To discover the full update click here.

FinTech Scotland strengthens leadership with appointment of Clare Reid to drive Scotland’s fintech innovation ambition

FinTech Scotland has appointed Clare Reid as Strategic Innovation Director. In this role, she will support the strategic direction and implementation of the FinTech Scotland Research & Innovation Roadmap, with a particular focus on the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL).

Clare has more than 20 years of experience across innovation, research, financial services, and policy. Most recently, she was Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Prosper, where she led research initiatives, managed a partnership with the Scottish Government on small business learning (Peer Works), and oversaw delivery of a school STEM programme. She has also held senior roles at Experian and Robertson Group, as well as running her own start-up.

Her appointment comes as FRIL accelerates its ambition for innovation and research, aimed at advancing fintech growth, technology adoption and collaboration across the financial sector.

Since its launch in 2023 FRIL has become a catalyst for financial regulation innovation across the UK. Strategically based in Glasgow FRIL builds on the city’s established and growing financial services sector as well as the city’s growing reputation for innovation and collaboration. By addressing industry-wide challenges and supporting innovation in regulation, FRIL is contributing to a more resilient and inclusive financial system, while aligning with the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy to drive growth and competitiveness in financial services.

Nicola Anderson, CEO of FinTech Scotland, says:

“We are pleased to welcome Clare as Strategic Innovation Director. Her experience across innovation, research and financial services, together with her track record in cross-sector collaboration, will be central to the continued development of the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab. Clare’s leadership will help ensure the Lab delivers practical outcomes that strengthen Scotland’s role in financial innovation while contributing to progress across the UK”.

Clare Reid, Strategic Innovation Director at Fintech Scotland said:

” I’m delighted to be joining FinTech Scotland at such an exciting time in their development. They are recognised leaders in cluster management and the FinTech opportunity is a key industrial opportunity for both the Scottish and UK economies. FRIL is a pioneering initiative that has real potential to create positive change for consumers, society and the environment and I’m excited to have the opportunity to play a part in that and in the future direction as we look to scale up the initiative.”

Led by Innovate UK on behalf of UK Research and Innovation, the pilot Innovation Accelerators programme invested £100m in 26 transformative R&D projects, including the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab, to accelerate the growth of three high-potential innovation clusters – Glasgow City Region, Greater Manchester and West Midlands. This is a new model of R&D decision making that empowers local leaders to harness innovation to drive regional economic growth, help attract private investment and develop future technologies.

Tackling the eSignature challenge in financial services

For established financial firms and fintechs, getting documents signed is a routine part of doing business. However, in regulated sectors, this far from a simple click and can be time demanding. The challenge is ensuring that each signature is genuine, the signer’s identity is verified, and the process stands up to legal and compliance scrutiny.

The problem: when speed meets risk

Digital transformation has made signing a document as easy as pressing a button, but not all eSignatures are created equal.

Click-to-sign methods offer convenience but can leave gaps in proving who actually signed.
In high-value transactions such as lending agreements or investment contracts, these gaps create legal and regulatory risk.
For scaling fintechs, enterprise-grade solutions that meet evidentiary standards can be expensive, with licensing fees adding hidden operational costs.

This leaves many firms in a bind: how to balance speed, client experience, and compliance without breaking the budget.

The solution: a verified approach

Syngrafii emerged from a unique collaboration between CEO Matthew Gibson and Canadian author Margaret Atwood, initially to create remote wet-ink signatures for book signings. That invention evolved into a secure document execution platform designed for high-trust environments.

The system combines:

Biometric ink signature capture – recording pressure, speed, and stroke data.
Live video signing sessions – visually confirming the signer’s identity in real time.
Tamper-proof audit trails – preserving every step of the transaction in a MasterFile™ for evidentiary use.

The result is a signing process that mirrors the assurance of in-person signing, but with the reach and efficiency of digital.

For growing fintechs, Syngrafii’s Pay-As-You-Sign™ model removes the barrier of large annual license fees. Firms pay only for the transactions they complete, making enterprise-grade compliance achievable without committing to long-term, high-cost contracts.

Use cases range from:

Client onboarding with ID verification.
Loan and mortgage approvals requiring verified signatures.
Wealth management agreements where client trust is paramount.

View Syngrafii’s profile on FinTech Scotland’s website.

Major Financial Institutions Unite to Drive Innovation in Operational Resilience

A coalition of leading financial institutions including Sword Group, Natwest, Morgan Stanley, Dudley Building Society, The Tipton, Unity Trust Bank, M&G, Pinsent Masons, Tesco Bank, Aberdeen, KPMG and EY have joined forces to launch a UK-wide innovation challenge focused on strengthening operational resilience across the financial sector. Delivered in partnership with FinTech Scotland through the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), and collaborating with SuperTech WM to help expand the reach and impact across the UK, this initiative calls on fintech innovators to co-create next-generation solutions that can safeguard the financial system in an increasingly digital world.

Operational resilience is a top priority for the UK’s regulators, including the FCA, Bank of England and HM Treasury, as the sector adapts to growing digital disruption, complex supply chains, and rising consumer expectations. This challenge reflects a shared commitment from industry to proactively address these risks through collaboration and innovation.

In the face of escalating demand for seamless digital services, the challenge is designed to source practical, scalable solutions that can help firms stay resilient, responsive, and secure. It will offer selected fintechs the opportunity to work directly with financial institutions, gain valuable insights into real-world resilience challenges, and receive expert input from leading academics from the University of Strathclyde and the University of Glasgow.

Successful applicants may also be eligible for up to £50,000 in grant funding to accelerate the development of their solution. The programme will culminate in a showcase event in Glasgow, where participants will present to industry and regulatory stakeholders.

FinTech firms from across the globe are encouraged to apply before the deadline on August 15^th. More details can be found here.

Nicola Anderson, CEO of FinTech Scotland: “This challenge is a powerful example of how collaboration can drive meaningful change. By bringing together fintech innovators, academic insight, and industry expertise, we’re not only responding to the increasing demands of the digital economy, we’re actively shaping a more resilient and adaptive financial system for the future.”

Rob Mossop, COO Financial Services and International, Sword: “As a trusted technology partner, we recognise that operational resilience is moving beyond meeting regulatory requirements. It has become a business imperative with clear impact on business growth. We understand the critical role that trusted and adaptable solutions play in helping financial institutions respond to disruption and build competitive advantage. We are excited to see how this challenge brings together the best of industry, academia, and innovation to utilise technologies that don’t just withstand disruption but enable agility and enhance trust in the face of it”

Hilary Smyth-Allen, CEO SuperTech:“Our longstanding partnership with FinTech Scotland, to expand the reach of the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab, has delivered fantastic impact in previous programmes for both the fintech innovators and financial services participants. We look forward to seeing the collaborative opportunities arising from this open innovation challenge focusing on operational resilience.” 

Nicole Alston, Innovation Engagement Manager, NatWest: “Natwest Group are proud to support this challenge, which represents a fantastic opportunity to work hand-in-hand with fintech innovators to shape the next generation of operational resilience. By combining industry insight with fresh thinking, we can build smarter, more adaptive systems that protect customers and maintain trust”

Luke Scanlon, Pinsent Masons: “Strengthening operational resilience isn’t just a regulatory expectation, it’s a shared responsibility across the financial ecosystem. This challenge is a compelling example of how partnerships between fintechs and industry, can drive innovation that’s both agile and aligned with evolving regulatory frameworks. It’s a chance to build practical solutions that work in the real world”

Samuel Kennedy, Head of Operational Risk, Dudley Building Society: “For building societies, operational resilience is fundamental to maintaining the trust of our members and communities. This challenge is a chance to work alongside fintechs to explore innovative solutions that protect continuity of service, while ensuring we remain agile and responsive in a changing digital landscape.”

Will Lynch, Group Deputy COO, Aberdeen: “Aberdeen’s involvement in FRIL has shown the power of collaboration in tackling complex regulatory and operational challenges. We are looking forward to contributing the next phase of FRIL in an increasingly important part of the regulatory landscape.”

David Owen, Head of Business Risk at Unity Trust Bank: “Operational resilience isn’t just about meeting regulatory compliance; it is about reinforcing our customers’ confidence that we can withstand disruptions and continue to serve them effectively. At Unity Trust Bank, resilience is fundamental to our double-bottom-line approach: it supports sustainable business growth while deepening the trust that our socially minded customers place in us. By collaborating with fintech innovators, industry partners, and thought leaders, we are developing smarter, more adaptive systems that not only ensure continuity but also strengthen the core principles of ethical banking.”

Tom McFarlane, Partner, EY – “Building on the success of our collaboration with FRIL, we’re delighted to be supporting this innovation challenge focused on strengthening operational resilience. The FRIL programme presents a unique opportunity to deepen our relationships with innovators across the cluster – bringing together diverse thinking, regulatory insight, and practical expertise. Through these collaborations, we can co-create solutions that are not only innovative, but also scalable and grounded in the realities of today’s financial landscape.”