Why Upskilling can’t wait: Building Smarter Skills for a Smarter Financial Future
Q&A With Christine Sinclair
Programme Director, Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), University of Strathclyde
Financial services is undergoing one of the most significant periods of change in decades. Technology is advancing at pace, new regulations are emerging, and organisations of every size are wrestling with the skills needed to keep up. The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL) was created as a catalyst to help the sector respond, to support better outcomes for consumers, strengthen the industry, and enable fintech entrepreneurs to innovate with confidence.
Central to this mission is a progressive skills development programme delivered in partnership with the University of Strathclyde and the University of Glasgow. Together, they’re building a portfolio of Microcredentials (which gain academic credits), short courses and executive education that help people across financial services understand, adopt and apply new technologies responsibly and effectively.
Christine Sinclair, Programme Director, FRIL, University of Strathclyde
Here, Christine Sinclair, Programme Director for FRIL, explains why this work matters, and why now is the time to invest in the future skills of the sector.
Q 1 – Hello Christine, let’s start with the big questions first… what challenge are you addressing here, and why does this matter?
A 1- When you look across financial services, the message is the same everywhere: the pace of technological change is relentless, and people and industry need to keep up. The biggest example right now is generative AI. There’s a real desire to understand it, but also a lot of uncertainty.
When you look at the evidence around AI adoption, the barriers are strikingly consistent. Many organisations hold back because they don’t have the skills or confidence to implement it safely. They don’t fully understand the risks, or they’re concerned about data management and governance. A lot of this is driven by the hype cycle, which can be overwhelming.
So the challenge we’re addressing is simple but vital: helping people develop the skills they need to adopt new technologies responsibly, whether that’s AI, data, digital transformation or ESG reporting. And what we’re doing is demand-led, we’re not creating courses and hoping people want them. We’re listening closely to what financial services and fintechs tell us they need.
Interestingly, the needs differ. Fintechs tend to be highly technical but often need more support with leadership, negotiation and change management. Larger financial institutions have deep organisational knowledge, but they often need help with the technical understanding. So it’s about supporting both sides, and helping both work together…
…and it’s all really important because with the speed of change, the biggest risk is to do nothing.
Q 2 – Who are the courses for?
A 2 – They’re for anyone in financial services, from credit unions to fintechs and large institutions to board-level executives.
A lot of participants join because they want to refresh their own skills. Others are sent by employers who know they need to build capability quickly. And we’re seeing more early-career professionals who want to understand the fundamentals of digital transformation or AI as they move into new roles.
What’s important is that the courses meet people where they are. You don’t need a technical background. You just need curiosity and a willingness to learn.
As a result of the success of the programmes developed for financial services, we’ve also welcomed people from energy and health sectors where the challenges are very similar.
Q 3 – What’s unique about this particular skills offering?
A 3 – The comprehensiveness. There are plenty of short “how to prompt engineer” or “what is GenAI” sessions out there, but they tend to cover only one slice of the picture. FRIL’s courses build from fundamentals all the way through to practical application in financial services.
For example, our AI microcredentials are designed to allow learners to understand and engage with AI in a structured and progressive manner. Focussing on core concepts and techniques, such as machine learning and large language models, but also, cover risk, governance and data science, and communication skills, whilst including real industry use cases which demonstrate practical application. For executives, we even include topics such as decision-making through AI driving business insights in the boardroom, AI Governance and compliance, as well as AI in Enterprise Risk Management and developing strategies to implement and scale GenAI.
Everything is designed to be flexible and accessible. You can learn in your own time, supported by lecturers who track your engagement and are available when you need help. It’s comprehensive without being overwhelming.
Q 4 – What kind of courses are currently being offered?
A 5 – We’ve developed microcredentials in Digital Transformation, ESG for Executives, and a full AI literacy suite, from beginner to advanced, plus an executive-level course. And there are programmes in AI & RegTech, and ESG Leadership.
We originally planned to deliver two microcredentials. We’ve delivered ten due to demand. Seven at Strathclyde, two at Glasgow, and one short course through the UK Government’s Help to Grow programme at Strathclyde. Our microcredentials are accredited and can stack towards a postgraduate qualification, so learners build credits over time.
For those who don’t wish to earn credits, we are now looking at awarding digital badges so learners can showcase their acquired skills on LinkedIn or their CV.
Q 5 – What format do the courses take?
A 5 – In general, course delivery is blended. Each week, participants complete short online lectures, which are no more than 15 minutes each. This, along with reading and other practical activities helps them apply what they’ve learned and typically brings the total up to around two to three hours per week.
We run online inductions, drop-in webinars and a final in-person consolidation session on campus. That’s where the learning community really comes together. Everyone arrives with the same foundation and can share what’s worked in their own organisations.
Our blended delivery provides a safe space to learn at your own pace and without judgement.
Q 6 – Can you share a story of someone who’s been on a course, and the impact it’s had?
A 6 – One participant told us he’d never been to college or university. He came straight into work and never had the opportunity to study formally. He was the first person in his family to ever take a university course, and it was our Digital Transformation programme.
Something clicked for him. After completing the course, he asked what else he could do. He’s now enrolled on a graduate apprenticeship degree. Another participant has gone on to apply for an MBA. So these short courses aren’t just about skills, they can genuinely spark lifelong learning.
Short courses are powerful…they can change the course of someone’s career.
Q 7 – How does FRIL create the ‘engine’ that drives these skills programmes?
A 7 – Our skills work is tightly linked to the Research and Innovation strands of FRIL. The research teams produce white papers, and we analyse common themes. We attend FRIL’s Innovation Calls, listening to pitches from fintechs proposing solutions to challenges highlighted by industry partners. That’s where you hear the real issues, things like: AI, data, legacy systems, regulatory change.
We also have a skills subgroup with finance industry representatives who act as a sounding board and help us to shape course priorities. Everything is demand-led, grounded in industry conversations, networking and skills gap analysis. We’re supporting a sector that contributes hugely to Scotland’s economy, and we want to get this right.
We’re not just creating courses, we’re listening to what the sector is telling us it needs.
Q 8 – How can what we’re doing here influence learnings across other sectors?
A 8 – While the focus here is financial services, the content isn’t always sector-specific, which means we can swap out case studies to fit different industries. We’re already seeing learners from energy and health joining our courses. Because the pace of change is constant everywhere, the need for digital and AI literacy applies just as much outside financial services.
And the short video-based model means we can keep content fresh. If something changes in AI, which it does daily, we can re-record a section quickly.
Q 9 – While this might be our final question today, this really is just the beginning. What might we expect to come?
A 9 Visibility is a big focus. We’re launching the FRIL Skills Academy, which brings everything together including upskilling, reskilling, executive education, and early-career engagement. It will guide people through learning pathways based on their needs, offer microcredentials, and connect with the student FinTech societies across Strathclyde and Glasgow. There will also be the opportunity to engage with either University to gain support for projects, knowledge transfer partnerships and PhD@Work.
Longer term, we want to work more closely with colleges to support talent pipelines, widen access and create opportunities for people who wouldn’t normally enter higher education. We’re also exploring mentoring programmes, internships guest lectures and masterclasses.
This is about us all embracing the future together. When you engage with the universities through FRIL you’re part of a learning community for the long term.
What next?
If you’d like to find out more about FRIL’s skills programmes, please visit:
- Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL) – Skills development.
- 10‑credit Online Microcredentials from the University of Glasgow.
The FRIL Skills Academy will be launched at the end of January 2026.
About FRIL
New Year, New Skills: 10‑credit Online Microcredentials from the University of Glasgow
Whether you’re looking to enhance your skills or develop your team, short online courses are a fast, flexible way to upskill and advance your career. The University of Glasgow is offering 10‑credit online microcredentials to help you build in‑demand capabilities quickly, with start dates in January and February 2026. Explore the options below.
Project Management
Start-Date: 26 January 2026
Project management is an essential business tool that is being adopted worldwide. It is also a growing and highly sought-after profession, with the Project Management Institute estimating it to have grown by $6.61 trillion by the end of 2020. In this microcredential course, you will gain a deep understanding of practical project management skills using real-world case studies. You will examine the entire project lifecycle, from feasibility to closure, and explore important topics such as managing people, setting priorities, working to tight deadlines, developing schedules and managing risks.
Intro to Business Analytics
Start-Date: 26 January 2026
The Introduction to Business Analytics: Empowering Decision-Making Through Data course is designed to introduce learners to the concepts, techniques, and methods used to analyse an organisation’s operational performance and enable them to make informed business decisions using business analytics skills. The course will discuss the different sources of data and information necessary for analysis, and how to turn an understanding of business analytics into a competitive advantage. At the end of this course, learners will understand the challenges in sourcing data in today’s internet enabled world, what we can/cannot expect the data/information to tell us, and how we can analyse what we have to the best effect. Learners will also be introduced to the data visualization techniques to maximise the impact of data on decision-making, presentation, stakeholder engagement and stakeholder buy-in.
Business Financial Management
Start-Date: 26 January 2026
This course examines the role of accounting and finance in organisational decision‑making, control and performance management. It offers a broad overview of the function and introduces practical skills for interpreting and using financial information and reports to support these activities.
AI & RegTech in Financial Compliance
Start-Date: February 2026 (TBC)
This course provides a practical approach to understanding and applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Regulatory Technology (RegTech) in financial compliance and risk management. It introduces the fundamentals of AI capabilities, the evolution of RegTech, and the regulatory and governance frameworks that shape compliance across banking, fintechs, and the wider financial ecosystem.
ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) Leadership
Start-Date: February 2026 (TBC)
This course aims to introduce recent graduates and early career professionals in the financial services and financial technology sectors to the areas of ESG policy and compliance, data and analysis requirements, and organisational and strategic opportunities. By focussing on ESG leadership, the course aims to equip learners with the practical knowledge, skills and capabilities to evaluate the strategic positioning of their organisation and to develop an ESG plan for their organisation.
Discount codes
As a valued member of the FinTech Scotland community, and with support from the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), you can use the following discount codes:
- AI & RegTech course: use code ‘FRIL’ at checkout. Standard price £499; FinTech Scotland members pay £349 with this code.
- ESG Leadership microcredential: use code ‘ESGFriends’ at checkout. Standard price £599; FinTech Scotland members pay £399 with this code.
The Delivery and Impact of the FinTech Scotland Cluster in 2025
This report highlights the progress made across the FinTech Scotland Cluster in 2025, a year marked by continued growth and increasing global influence. The cluster has welcomed new firms, attracted higher levels of investment, and seen more businesses scale confidently and trade internationally. Scotland’s fintech SME community has matured significantly, supported by deeper partnerships across industry, academia, and the public sector — reflecting a shared commitment to collaboration as a driver of meaningful progress.
Innovation in practice has also taken a major step forward. The 10-year FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap is now firmly embedded, with over 40% of recommended actions underway. Central to this has been the award-winning Financial Regulation Innovation Lab, which expanded its scale and earned national recognition for its collaborative, industry-led approach. In 2025, the cluster also launched its second priority innovation environment, The Centre of Excellence in Distributed Ledger Technology, focusing on digital assets, payments, and tokenisation, with digital trust at its core.
These successes reflect the collective effort and commitment across the ecosystem to drive responsible innovation and sustainable economic growth. They provide a powerful platform for the next phase. Thank you to all who have contributed — 2026 promises new opportunities, new collaborations, and continued progress for Scotland’s fintech community.
Together, these environments are enabling pioneering work and helping firms explore and commercialise technologies shaping the future of financial services. National and international engagement has matched this momentum. From strong representation at Money20/20 Europe to productive activity and engagement across North America, Canada, Hong Kong, and wider Asia, Scotland’s international presence has grown, supporting an increasing number of fintech SMEs entering global markets.
Nicola Anderson, Chief Executive at FinTech Scotland, said:
“These successes reflect the collective effort and commitment across the ecosystem to drive responsible innovation and sustainable economic growth. They provide a powerful platform for the next phase. Thank you to all who have contributed—2026 promises new opportunities, new collaborations, and continued progress for Scotland’s fintech community.”
Aleks Tomczyk, Chief Executive at FinTech Scotland, said:
“As I step into the role of Chief Executive in January, I do so with genuine excitement for what lies ahead. The foundations built over the past seven years including in 2025 create a strong foundation for the next phase of growth. Scotland’s fintech community is rich with talent, ambition, creativity, and a collaborative spirit that is widely admired – including internationally. I am energised by the opportunity to contribute further to this vibrant cluster, including its innovators, current and future strategic partners, and supporters in the ecosystem. Together, we will build on the momentum already achieved and shape a successful future in which Scotland continues to lead, influence, and inspire across the rapidly evolving fintech landscape.”
Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL) Responsible Innovation Case Study: Ask Silver
FRIL: Stopping Scams Before The Payment Goes Through
At FRIL, practical innovation protects people. The Optimising Consumer Outcomes Innovation Call brought together fintechs, regulators, academics and banks to tackle real issues that affect millions of people across the UK.
Ask Silver, co‑founded and led by Alex Somervell, uses AI to stop scams before people lose money. The team’s passion, sparked by personal experience of financial harm, lies in protecting people from financial and emotional harm caused by scammers. Winning one of five funded FRIL innovation awards helped Ask Silver to hire earlier, accelerate product development and launch the Metro Bank Scam Checker sooner – delivering protection to customers sooner than planned.
“Engaging with FRIL gave us access to industry leaders from NatWest to Barclays to Tesco Bank. That insight into their challenges meant we could tailor what we built and get feedback as we built, rather than in isolation.” — says Alex, Co-founder & CEO, Ask Silver.
The Challenge : Protecting People from Scams
Scams and fraud are a growing national problem that harm people’s finances, confidence and wellbeing.
Fraud and scams are among the fastest-growing threats in financial services. In the UK alone, consumers lost £12.4 billion last year, 41% of over 50s in the UK have been scammed in the last five years and fraud accounts for over 40% of all crime.
The FCA’s Consumer Duty raises the standard for firms to protect customers, prevent foreseeable harm and deliver fair value. Many firms find meeting these expectations difficult because of legacy systems and manual processes. Stopping scams quickly – ideally before a payment is made – is a clear, measurable way to protect customers and meet regulatory standards across the UK.
For consumers this means clearer information, fairer treatment and stronger protection so
fewer people lose life savings or suffer emotional harm.
| For Industry | For Consumers |
|---|---|
| Consumer Duty isn’t just regulation, it’s about putting people first. It ensures financial firms act in customers’ best interests, helping prevent harm, exploitation, and financial crime before it happens and ensuring every interaction leads to fair, positive outcomes. | It means being treated with fairness and respect – with products they can trust, clearer information, and stronger safeguards against financial harm or scams. |
FRIL’s Formula for Change
FRIL’s Optimising Consumer Duty Innovation Call set seven practical challenges about improving consumer outcomes using technology and data. By pairing early‑stage fintechs with banks, regulators and academics, FRIL created a fast feedback loop for testing real solutions. Funding support plus direct access to decision‑makers allowed innovators to iterate quickly and scale solutions that benefit us all.
FRIL’s approach shows what’s possible when innovation and regulation work hand in hand. It proves that technology can help financial services not only do better, but be better: fairer, smarter, and more inclusive.
The Case Study :Ask Silver
Ask Silver gives people a fast, easy way to check messages, emails or links for scams. Users send content and receive an instant, human‑centred judgement and guidance so they can decide what to do next.
Ask Silver’s foundation is deeply personal to its founder:
“My dad was scammed, he lost almost £150,000 – most of his life savings. He was vulnerable for a number of reasons. Then three friends in their early 30s, all in tech, were scammed too, losing tens of thousands each. It shows that scams are a problem that affect everyone.” — Alex, Co-founder & CEO, Ask Silver.
Ask Silver’s core product is a scam-checker AI. A user sends a message, email, or website link. The system analyses it and responds with guidance. Ask Silver is delivering real impact so far in stopping scams before payments are made:
- Over 20,000 scam submissions analysed.
- Incidents reported to the National Cyber Security Centre and authorities.
- Many users avoided financial loss and learned how to spot scams.
- Broad media coverage that raised national awareness across BBC, ITV, Telegraph and
- Daily Mail
“Lots of people use it when they’re unsure. They do a quick check with us, get that instant second opinion, and it often leads them to do further research themselves to validate what we’ve said.” — explains Alex.
Ask Silver is live on WhatsApp and planning a roll‑out to web, app and video analysis so more people across the UK can access help in the way they prefer.
Ask Silver stats
| Sector | FinTech/Fraud Prevention |
| Employees | 6 |
| Location | London |
Impact of FRIL: Delivering safer digital finance
FRIL enabled Ask Silver to turn early support and industry links into national impact.
“We won £50,000. That was huge for us at the time as we’d only invested about £100,000 to get this far. That funding allowed us to hire two developers earlier, pushing development forward months sooner than we otherwise could have.” — says Alex.
How FRIL support translated into impact for the UK:
- How FRIL support translated into impact for the UK:
- 2 x developers hired ahead of schedule
- Building tools ahead of schedule (e.g. a Facebook Marketplace scanner)
- Expediting security and feature development
- Gaining validation that supported subsequent fundraising
- Being able to get Ask Silver out there to support more customers, more quickly
“We moved quicker than we would have otherwise. We built features earlier, hired earlier, and engaged with people in banks who we’d have struggled to meet.” — explains Alex.
For industry partners this meant that they could also pro-actively help customers:
“The goal is to ultimately stop scams. We want to be the most consumer- and human-focused anti-scam, anti-fraud product and company available on WhatsApp, web, and app, analysing not just text but video.” — adds Alex.
With FRIL’s connections and credibility, Ask Silver moved faster and gained proof points that helped scale their approach, making protection available to more people across the UK.
“If FRIL hadn’t been there, we’d have delayed hiring, faced less investment and taken longer to get that additional proof point and validation.” — says Alex
Outcomes – Turning Ambition into Action
As a result of the few months of collaboration with FRIL, Ask Silver achieved significant milestones.
- £50,000 FRIL grant secured
- New partnerships formed with major banking institutions
- 2 developer hires accelerated
- Product development accelerated, bringing protection to more people sooner
Case study conclusion
Practical regulation plus focused innovation protects people across the UK. Ask Silver shows how a small, human‑centred AI product can have a national reach: preventing financial loss, educating the public and supporting banks to meet higher consumer protection standards. When regulators, industry and innovators collaborate, technology becomes technology is not just a tool, but a source of safety – and a force for good.
About FRIL
Download the Ask Silver case study.
New fintech programme aims to help Scotland’s ageing population financially prepare for later life
FinTech Scotland is aiming to help address the growing link between people’s financial situation and their health in later life with the launch of a new initiative that will accelerate innovation through the development of new research, technologies, and services.
The Finance and Health Lab will bring together financial services firms, fintechs, academia, government, health specialists and policy leaders to enhance understanding of the drivers of later life financial vulnerability and to co-design solutions that could improve the financial wellbeing and resilience of people across Scotland. The programme is being enabled by funding from the Scottish Government and delivered in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Innovations, its commercialisation service, leveraging their innovation and research networks.
By fostering collaboration amongst partner organisations, the lab will support the ideation of new ventures, prototypes, and pilot projects, strengthening Scotland’s innovation pipeline and competitiveness in the global fintech market. It will also generate research that will shape future service models, product development, and policy that support good financial and health outcomes.
Participating organisations will collaborate on solving a number of challenge areas, with end outcomes potentially including making digital financial services more accessible and supportive for older people, creating personalised tools that help individuals plan for health events in later life, and strengthening financial confidence and decision-making.
The four-month programme will include a National Conference on innovation in finance and health and calls for projects targeting high-priority issues related to later life and financial wellbeing. In addition, participants will have opportunities to showcase new prototypes, understand data, undertake research, produce policy papers, and exchange knowledge through a series of webinars, roundtables, and other platforms.
A range of studies have drawn a direct link between household wealth and the likelihood of poor health in older age. For example, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)(2023–24), 54% of women aged 55–64 in the lowest third of the UK’s wealth distribution reported at least one mobility issue, compared to just 20% in the wealthiest third.
The UK has a longstanding retirement savings gap. Office for National Statistics figures suggest the average pension wealth in the UK for people between the ages of 65 and 74 stands at just under £146,000, equivalent to just over 4.5 years of ‘comfortable’ retirement income by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Associations’ standards.
Aleks Tomczyk, Chief Executive at FinTech Scotland, said:
“The retirement savings gap is a longstanding challenge in Scotland and across the UK – and it is only going to grow in importance as more people live longer and, therefore, need more money to fund themselves in later life. The Finance and Health Lab will bring together the best minds from across different sectors to find different types of solutions – whether that is policy, research, or technology – and set out a way forward for ensuring people can have a good retirement, minimising the adverse impact that poor health or limited finances can have.”
Dr Andrea Taylor, chief executive officer at Edinburgh Innovations, added:
“Scotland is the ideal test bed for an initiative like the Finance and Health Lab, with a strong fintech ecosystem, globally recognised universities, and a thriving financial services sector. The solutions that emerge from the programme could make a significant difference to people’s lives and further cement our position as a world leader in collaboration and innovation between the public, private, and education sectors.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said:
“Scottish Government committed £5 million this financial year to support the growth of our key innovation clusters as drivers of economic development in areas with huge value potential, including fintech and life sciences. This project, as an important element of a broader suite of cluster development projects, will strengthen cross-cluster collaboration and contribute to the enhancement of innovation and economic growth of these key clusters.”
Read more about the Finance and Health Lab.
Cloud for financial services: An Industry Report on the Opportunities and Challenges
By Pinsent Masons & the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL)
A decade ago, the “cloud in financial services” conversation was framed by caution, with the sector focused on navigating a series of hurdles to adoption. Today, the cloud is no longer a novel proposition cautiously assessed, but rather an indispensable component of the operational fabric and strategic future of financial services. The hurdles have, in many respects, become pathways, enabling unprecedented speed and innovation.
This report by Pinsent Masons, published in partnership with the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), revisits the cloud journey for financial services with a focus on the nuanced and complex reality facing financial institutions. Drawing on a series of candid “Chatham House” interviews with senior leaders across major financial institutions, technology providers and advisory firms, it explores the current dynamics of the market. The report is also supported by survey data sourced from more than 30 businesses operating within the financial services sector.
The interviews and the data reveal that the old hurdles have not disappeared, and some, like data residency, persist as challenges despite the context evolving. The primary drivers for moving to the cloud are now strategic – (1) the continuing need to escape the drag of legacy systems, (2) demand for pace and agility in segments being reshaped by AI, and (3) the realisation that the cloud can be a powerful tool for enhancing, rather than diminishing, operational resilience.
New and complex challenges have also surfaced. The initial promise of cost savings has proved elusive for some; governance and the maturity of shared responsibility models have struggled to keep pace with adoption; and regulators are focused on what they see as a continuing key concern – concentration of risk among a handful of hyperscale providers. As the sector stands on the cusp of an AI-powered technological wave – a wave that is dependent on the cloud – the lessons from the past decade are more critical than ever.
About FRIL
Navigating the Advice Frontier – Supporting informed consumer decision making.
The Future of Wealth Innovation Call launches.
This challenge is about finding new ways to support consumers in making informed financial decisions, delivering more accessible and tailored wealth support, while staying within evolving regulatory expectations.
This Innovation Call sees 21 cutting-edge fintech businesses selected to collaborate directly with leading financial institutions, professional services firms, regulators and academics using data-driven innovation that can bridge the “advice gap” an improve outcomes for millions of customers.
This is our sixth Innovation Call and will address challenges affecting the sector including:
Launch and next steps
The programme officially launched on 13 November at PwC’s Glasgow offices, where the fintechs met with industry leaders and academic experts to kick-start their collaborative journeys.
Over the coming weeks, participants will take part in workshops and deep dive insight sessions designed to refine their solutions and align them with real-world industry needs. The most promising ideas may also receive grants of up to £50,000 to accelerate development
Who is involved?
The Future of Wealth Call is hosted by the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL) in partnership with SuperTech West Midlands
We are proud to be working with 10 strategic partners - PwC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Sopra Steria Financial Services, NatWest Group, M&G, BNP Paribas, Dudley Building Society, Wesleyan and Standard Life – alongside academic partners at the University of Strathclyde and the University of Glasgow. Their combined expertise ensures that innovation is rooted in both cutting-edge research and real-world regulatory priorities.
We are also delighted to partner with Growth Builders to support in the delivery of this programme.
Our 21 successful Fintechs include:
Afternoon Finance, Alessia, Alethica, Amplifi, Aveni, Aventur Wealth, CherpaAI, Complia, Doconomy, Etcho, Finspector, Glimzer, Guiide, InicioAI, Iress, Open Book Analytics, Planda, Snowdrop Solutions & Stratiphy [joint entry] and The Wisdom Council & DocStribute [joint entry]
Find out more about each of the fintechs in our fintech brochure.
What next?
If you’ve liked what you’ve read, follow us on LinkedIn where we will keep you updated. Or, for more information about getting involved in future innovation calls contact us at FRIL@fintechscotland.com
About FRIL
Consumers at the Heart of Innovation: Financial Health Evaluation in the UK Regulatory Landscape
This whitepaper examines the evolving landscape of financial services in the UK, with a focus on consumer-centric innovation and the regulatory framework supporting financial health. Against a backdrop of rising household debt and consumer vulnerabilities, we explore how innovative fintech solutions, enabled by emerging technologies, are reshaping the evaluation of financial health beyond traditional credit scoring methods.
The paper provides an in-depth analysis of the current regulatory environment, including the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Consumer Duty and other initiatives aimed at enhancing financial wellbeing. A case study demonstrates an AI-driven framework for intelligent credit scoring, illustrating the potential for more holistic financial health assessments.
We discuss the critical role of Open Banking and Open Finance as enabling infrastructures for innovation, while emphasising the importance of data protection and digital ethics. The paper also outlines key directions for fintech innovation that prioritise consumer needs.
Looking to the future, we examine emerging trends in consumer innovation, potential regulatory developments, and the long-term impact on the financial services industry. The paper concludes that by placing consumers at the heart of innovation, the UK financial sector can build a more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable future, setting a global benchmark for fostering financial health in an era of rapid technological change.
About FRIL
From Crisis to Prosperity: AI and Open Finance for Holistic Financial Health and Smart Future Planning
The financial services industry stands at a critical inflection point. Traditional credit-scorecentric frameworks, rooted in historical repayment data and broad demographic categories, are increasingly incapable of capturing the full spectrum of consumers’ financial health. The COVID-19 pandemic, successive cost-of-living crises and wider economic shocks have exposed deep vulnerabilities in reactive, one-dimensional risk models. Consumers and institutions require proactive, resilience-focused insights that span day-to-day cashflow management, medium-term debt servicing, and long-term wealth accumulation.
Open Finance – the consent-driven sharing of a comprehensive array of financial data (current accounts, mortgages, loans, savings, investments, pensions, insurance, government benefits), combined with advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) techniques, offers a transformational route to truly holistic financial health evaluation. By ingesting rich, multi-dimensional data and applying explainable models, financial firms can transition from static credit assessments to dynamic, personalised guidance and recommendation engines. These engines empower consumers to build financial resilience, make informed decisions and pursue life goals with confidence.
Building on Sopra Steria and Glasgow University’s joint whitepaper “Consumers at the Heart of Innovation: Financial Health Evaluation in the UK Regulatory Landscape” and inspired by R&D collaboration between Sopra Steria and Oxford University, this whitepaper:
- Examines the scope and expected data architecture of Open Finance, extending from Open Banking to full-spectrum data sharing.
- Presents a robust data modelling framework, encompassing data acquisition, cleansing, feature engineering, supervised and unsupervised modelling, scorecard design and persona segmentation. It culminates in a composite financial health score that blends aspects like credit risk and resilience evaluation.
- Explores explainability and consumer engagement, employing data science techniques to ensure transparency and mapping various persona archetypes to tailored, sequential optimisation plans.
- Demonstrates regulatory alignment, showing how non-product-specific, personadriven guidance and recommendation can fit within the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Advice and Guidance Boundary (FG15/1) and the Consumer Duty framework.
About FRIL
Creating Fairer Financial Futures
Advice Guidance Boundary Review Innovation Call
The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL) launched its latest Innovation Call last week, which addresses one of the most important regulatory shifts in financial services and could reshape how millions of people access financial support.
The call is all about finding new ways to help consumers make informed financial decisions, delivering more accessible and tailored support while staying within evolving regulatory expectations.
The call focusses on the FCA’s Advice Guidance Boundary Review – a technical name for a very human issue: how to make financial help clearer, fairer and available to far more people.
To understand what all this means – and how it connects to creating a fairer financial future – we spoke with Kostas Oikonomakos, Programme Manager at the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), ahead of last week’s launch of the Innovation Call.
In Conversation with Kostas Oikonomakos
Hi Kostas!
Q: OK, let’s start with what is the Advice Guidance Boundary Review, and why does it matter?
Kostas: The AGBR is a really important development for the financial services industry. Right now, millions of people in the UK don’t receive any financial advice at all. Advice exists, of course, but it’s often too expensive for most people. The Review aims to make sure those people can finally get some form of support to help them make important decisions about their money.
Just 9% of UK adults took financial advice in the year leading up to 2022. While 64% hadn’t in five years. This highlights an ‘advice gap’ affecting an estimated 12 million people identified as non-advised but with need or potential.
*Stats from FCA’s 2022 Financial Lives Survey and the Financial Services Scheme.
It’s also good for firms. It gives them new ways to deliver support that is practical and can scale. And it brings clarity. Today, there are grey areas where a firm thinks they’re offering guidance, but the FCA might say it’s actually advice. AGBR will help define what is advice, what is guidance, and how new services like ‘targeted support’ and ‘simplified advice’ fit in. That clarity will help the whole financial system work better for everyone.
Q: Why does this matter to our everyday lives?
Kostas: The gap is real. The wealthy can afford advice, but millions of people don’t receive any support at all, so they have to navigate pensions, savings, and long-term planning by themselves. New types of guided support can help close that gap and improve confidence and outcomes for people who’ve never had access to anything before.
Q: At what points in our lives would we feel the difference created by AGBR, and how would it change the way we access advice or guidance?
Kostas: You’d notice it would make financial decisions easier. For example, when you’re getting close to retirement and need to understand your pension options, but you can’t afford full advice. With developments from AGBR, you could use a digital service that gives you targeted support based on the information you share, helping you make decisions with much more confidence. The same applies if you have a few small pension pots from different employers and don’t know how they fit together. Guided tools can help you navigate that without needing a one-to-one adviser.
You’d also see the difference much earlier in life. Let’s say you have a small amount of savings and you’re trying to work out how to make it grow, or you’re deciding whether to pay off debt or put money into a pension. Right now, most people in that situation get no support at all. New ‘advice-lite’ services would give clearer, personalised guidance at a price people can actually access. And in time, as open finance develops, firms could safely build a fuller picture of your financial situation and offer even more accurate guidance without you having to pull everything together yourself.
Q: What is the main challenge that the FCA is trying to address?
Kostas: The main challenge the FCA and HM Treasury are trying to solve through the AGBR is that too few people are getting the financial support they need. There are lots of people who could really benefit from help but don’t get it – that is the advice gap. Part of the problem is that firms aren’t always sure where the line sits between regulated advice and general guidance. The Review should clear up that uncertainty and create space for new, more affordable ways to help people, like Targeted Support and Simplified Advice, so that many more consumers can get the right help at the right time.
Q: What is the difference between advice and guidance?
Kostas: Advice is the traditional, regulated service where an adviser understands your full financial picture and gives you a personalised recommendation. It’s tailored to you and your long-term goals, and the firm takes responsibility for that recommendation. Guidance is different. It doesn’t look at your whole situation and it doesn’t tell you exactly what to do. Instead, it helps point you in the right direction based on the information you choose to share. It supports your decision, but it’s not a personalised recommendation.
Q: Why is FRIL taking on this topic right now, and what does it hope to achieve?
Kostas: The timing is ideal because the AGBR framework is still being developed. Final rules are expected by the end of 2025, with firms able to apply for the new targeted-support regime from Spring 2026. That means there’s still an opportunity to feed in insights before anything becomes enforceable.
This creates a safe space for firms to share challenges and explore potential solutions without regulatory pressure. Through this work, we can generate early evidence and practical ideas to help shape how the new regime operates in practice.
The kinds of ideas we expect to explore include digital tools for targeted support, simpler ‘advice-lite’ journeys, interactive disclosures, and even early work on open finance so firms can safely access a fuller picture of a customer’s finances. The goal is to produce practical, testable solutions that show how AGBR could work in the real world, to prepare for tomorrow and to improve outcomes for people who currently receive no support at all.
Q: Why is FRIL a good environment to help shape developments?
Kostas: More broadly, what FRIL wants to achieve is genuine collaboration around real problems. Large firms get early sight of new technologies and ideas that could help them support customers at scale. Fintechs get a clear understanding of what those firms actually need, and they can adjust or sharpen their solutions accordingly. The FCA is part of those conversations too, which is helpful for any fintech that might want to become regulated in future. And our academic partners bring research and analytical thinking that helps everyone look at these issues from different angles.
Q: OK quick summary – how does this help create a fairer financial future?
Kostas: By widening access. More people get the right kind of help, firms can serve broader audiences, and the rules are clearer. That combination improves confidence, access to financial advice and guidance, and ultimately, better outcomes for everyone.
Explaining the terminology
The Advice Guidance Boundary Review. Just what does it mean? A brief glossary:
- Advice: A regulated service where a financial adviser looks at your full financial situation and gives you a personalised recommendation.
- Guidance: Support that points you in the right direction based on limited information you share, without telling you exactly what to do.
- Boundary: The line that separates advice from guidance, defining how much information is needed and what a firm can or can’t recommend.
- Review: The FCA’s process of consulting industry and consumers, and government to create clear new rules that will shape how these services work in future.
What next?
Over the coming weeks, FRIL will be exploring new technologies, fresh thinking and real-world challenges with partners across the ecosystem. Watch this space for insights and thought leadership content from across the call – there’s much more to come.
Email the team at FRIL@fintechscotland.com if you’d like more information about our Innovation Calls.