FinTech focus groups set up to support FinTech Scotland Roadmap
A new FinTech event series focused on collaboration and stakeholder engagement will play an important role in supporting the development and delivery of the recently published FinTech Scotland Research and Innovation Roadmap.
FinTech is driving change in the financial services industry, one of the most important parts of our economy. It presents a significant disruptive force and will shape the future of the digital economy.
The financial services industry contributes £132 billion to the UK economy each year and research and innovation will play a fundamental role in shaping the future of finance. FinTech is already a rising force in Scotland, with over 200 fintech businesses, driving growing levels of investment and creating exciting and interesting high value jobs.
Embracing this growing potential, the R&I Roadmap sets out the foundations to do more. The overarching aims of the Roadmap are the creation of over 20,000 new FinTech related jobs and an increase in economic value (GVA) from £598 million to more than £2 billion – over the next 10 years.
To support the Roadmap, the FinTech Research and Innovation Event Series 2022-23 has been launched, created by FinTech-Tables, supported by FinTech Scotland and global law firm Pinsent Masons.
The events will provide a platform for discussion that will continue to support an industry-led approach to research, innovation and impact across the four key pillars of the Roadmap; financial regulation, payments & transactions, climate finance, and open finance data. The series will see key contributors meeting to discuss actions outlined against each theme in a series of industry roundtables and panel discussions.
The event series is already attracting a lot of support, with speakers confirmed from a number of organisations for the opening event in September this year, including Pinsent Masons, Autorek and the University of Strathclyde, where a panel of experts will convene to consider role of technology and data in financial regulation.
Commenting, Fintech Scotland Chief Executive Nicola Anderson said,
“This Roadmap event series continues to show the demand and ambition across Scotland to play a leading role in the shaping the future of fintech innovation, and enable the future of finance that will serve the needs of citizens and businesses as we continue to see the digital economy grow and emerge. Fintech innovation in Scotland is already demonstrating a future that can drive better outcomes for us all. By building more collaboration and embracing our strengths, in innovation, finance, and technology, we will continue to play a leading role in advancing finance across the world. ”
Yvonne Dunn, Partner leading the Financial services technology practice at Pinsent Masons said
“As Fintech continues to develop and advance it is disrupting global financial markets, but much needs to be done for it to affect genuine change. Put simply, innovation in technology combined with adapting attitudes and behaviours across society will be a catalyst to drive meaningful change. As we look across the international landscape, Scotland will play a vital role in advancing Fintech given its financial heritage, strength of its universities and an ingrained culture of entrepreneurialism. TheFinTech Scotland cluster is a demonstration of what can happen through collective action. This roadmap event series gives us a forum to move in the right direction and genuinely propel Fintech into a new era of innovation.”
Ian Davey, Founder of Fintech-Tables said
“FinTech in Scotland is a movement and what makes this sector unique is the willingness and desire of the entire ecosystem to come together and work for the greater good of the cluster and people in Scotland as a whole. This first of its kind event series will provide a platform for engagement around the FinTech Scotland Research & Innovation Roadmap and an opportunity for the industry to take action as a group to help shape the future of Fintech in Scotland through collaboration, innovation and inclusion”
AutoRek to hire a further 30 positions
Scottish fintech Autorek, is growing its team to cope with an unprecedented level of demand for it financial control and regulatory reporting solutions. The company has already recruited 40 people in 2022 and is looking at filling 30 more positions across the U.K.
This rise in demand can be attributed to a need for more integrity and accountability across the financial services sector, leading to increased regulation, especially across the payments and asset management industries. The FCA’s new Consumer Duty, which was introduced on 27th July, is the most recent example of this market shift.
AutoRek’s CEO, Gordon McHarg comments:
“We currently have 140 employees, and we’re projecting this number to rise to 170 by the end of the year to keep up with the demand from clients and prospects. We’re extremely proud that the average tenure of employees is currently four years – more than double the sector norm for most fintechs, with almost 40% of these employees playing a huge part in the growth journey with four years or more as part of the AutoRek team.”
He continued,
“The demand for greater automation is at the centre of our need to continue hiring. Within the payments, asset management and insurance sectors, the increasingly complex regulatory landscape is forcing firms to automate to keep pace with their competitors and their own customers’ expectations. Therefore, we have a particular focus on hiring SMEs in each of our sectors, with a number of positions available in insurance. As we look to expand our services internationally and focus on growing software engineering, professional services and sales, we expect this growth to continue as the global business world embraces the benefits of automation.”
Encompass Wins Best KYC/KYB Innovation
Scotland-based fintech, Encompass Corporation, just announced that Aite-Novarica Group, a global advisory firm, has awarded them the winner of the 2022 Fraud & AML Impact Awards’ Best Know Your Customer/Business (KYC/KYB) Innovation.
The award recognises the fintech for its capacity to combine a huge number data sources, technology and expertise to deliver best in class corporate KYC due diligence with automation.
Alex Ford, President, North America at Encompass, said:
“By automating the KYC process, financial institutions can pursue aggressive growth agendas and scale while avoiding additional compliance costs. Our platform is used by banks across the globe to significantly improve the onboarding experience of their clients while also future-proofing technology and processes. We’re grateful to be recognized by Aite-Novarica Group for our innovative approach, which brings speed, accuracy and control.”
Encompass’ platform gives financial institutions access to real-time to global public and premium data sources, enabling:
- Search based on pre-defined policy using only bank-approved sources;
- Mapping of ultimate beneficial ownership and corporate hierarchy;
- Screening of entities for PEPs, sanctions and adverse media;
- Cross-checking documents, matching and merging data;
- And the automatic creation of a complete audit trail in real time.
Winners were selected by a global panel of experts on fraud and AML.
Encompass will be presented with the AML Impact Award at the fifth annual Financial Crime Forum, taking place from September 18-19 2022 in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
BR-DGE announces partnership with leading travel organisation, Travel Counsellors
Payment orchestration scale-up, BR-DGE, has announced a new merchant partnership with leading independent travel company, Travel Counsellors.
This partnership will provide the business with access to a multitude of payment providers and alternative payment methods, from Open Banking to eWallets, via BR-DGE’s market-leading orchestration platform, ensuring a streamlined booking experience for all global customers. This will enable Travel Counsellors to utilise BR-DGE’s dynamic rules engine to build a multi acquirer strategy across its global business operations.
Jacob Spencer, Head of Commercial at BR-DGE, said
“We are excited to be working with Travel Counsellors to revolutionise its payments infrastructure with considerable benefits for its customers and business.
We have seen that the sector is on track for a strong recovery; Travel Counsellors was well placed to bounce back and has had a tremendous last six months with record bookings in FY22 as sales levels reach 140% of FY19.
Our research has shown that over 8% of online transactions in the travel sector fail. As demand returns, with consumers expecting a seamless booking experience and merchants aiming to lift margins, payment orchestration is vital to boosting the sector’s resilience and increasing conversion rates.”
Travel Counsellors is a global travel business, turning over £700m per annum and serving over 600,000 customers worldwide by booking over 300,000 itineraries each year.
Mat Hanson, Chief Financial Officer at Travel Counsellors added
“Our core strategic focus of continued growth and delivering a personalised service to all of our customers remains unchanged. Working with BR-DGE is another example of how we’re continuing to enhance our customers’ experience though the use of new technology. Continuing to provide a seamless booking experience remains pivotal and especially at a time when many of our Travel Counsellors are so very busy.”
Legado acquires Wonderbill’s bill management technology
Scottish fintech Legado just announced it had acquired the consumer and B2B bill management technology from WonderBill.
Launched in 2016, WonderBill allows people to manage all their household bills and subscriptions.
Legado will look at using the technology to support its B2B personal data management and engagement platform that counts M&G, one of the UK’s largest and longest established investment managers, among its clients.
Josif Grace, CEO, and founder of Legado, said:
“WonderBill has invested significantly in its technology over the last few years. The integration of the consumer and B2B bill management technology into Legado’s platform will provide our corporate partners with a market-leading and compliant solution to manage, share, and access personal data in a way that is meaningful for customers.”
Nathaniel Mead, Director at WonderBill said:
“We are delighted that Legado will integrate our innovative technology into their platform to deliver on their vision of managing important customer data in a single, secure place that’s easy to navigate. By offering the WonderBill functionality to its rapidly growing set of large B2B clients, Legado will provide increased ease and comfort to millions of households in the UK and beyond.”
Mansfield Building Society partners with DirectID
To help mortgage applicants to provide digital bank statement, Mansfield Building Society has partnered with Scottish open banking platform DirectID.
Applicants can now allow their bank to share their statements online with The Mansfield, hence speeding up the income and expenditure check and help prevent brokers from having to use PDFs or paper.
Mansfield Building Society Commercial Development Executive, Richard Crisp, said:
“Brokers and borrowers regularly tell us that they value our individual lending approach in providing flexible solutions to slightly unusual or niche circumstances. At the same, they need an increasingly swift and efficient service and, as a result, we’re delighted to be launching this service with DirectID.
This new service is a safe and convenient way for borrowers to provide their bank statements online via DirectID’s open banking platform. This improvement can help brokers reduce the amount of chasing around they do for their clients and help us deliver a faster speed to offer.
Combined with our robotics developments, not only can we continue to commit to our flexible underwriting approach, we can do it with the modern service that brokers and borrowers need.”
DirectID Soars To The Top Of The Credit & Risk Space, Unveiling A Slick New Visual Identity
UK ”“ 21 July, 2022 – DirectID takes another leap forward in their year-on-year growth, launching a new website and unveiling a refreshed visual identity.
Scotland-born fintech, DirectID, has always been at the forefront of open banking technology and are the earliest pioneers in the space. They rallied to the UK government for the launch of PSD2 – the world’s first open banking programme. The fintech then went on to build the first open banking integration in the world. Now, DirectID has attained super-aggregator status with 13,000+ connections in 45+ countries across the globe ”“ providing the highest coverage in the market.
The leadership team have been working with credit & risk data for over a decade and have more than 100 years of combined experience in senior roles at organisations such as FICO, Experian & TransUnion.
DirectID have brought open banking technology to some of the world’s biggest brands. Their partnership wall hosts logos from the likes of Deliveroo, XE, Nasdaq, Target, and many more. The new visual identity reflects their status as the leading provider of open banking data to the credit & risk space.
DirectID recruited Edinburgh-based maclean creative agency to launch an exciting, fresh technology brand that pays homage to the experience and specialist knowledge contained within the team.
The branding, visuals & messaging can be found on the new website at direct.id.
The rebrand launch is another marker of the growth of open banking technology in the credit & risk space.
James Varga, Founder & CEO, said:
“In the last few years we have seen an exponential growth in the use of open banking data
“With the current economic pressures, we are seeing demand for alternative data continue to grow and DirectID is set to reach a new peak in terms of revenues and market share. I am proud of our accomplishments, our new visual identity, and of our role in driving open banking data in to a global trend – putting our data at the heart of advanced credit & risk decisioning.”
and I, personally, am proud to be at the forefront of this movement having lobbied to the government for PSD2. The last few years have been a real catalyst for change and highlighted how essential real-time credit and risk data is to decision makers.
Clare McCaffery, Chief Commercial Officer, said:
“Having worked in credit & risk for > 20 years, and with alternative data for the past 12, I immediately recognised the potential within DirectID.
“Open banking fills a critical gap for decision makers who struggle to risk assess consumers with limited credit history and is proven to provide significant uplift to predictive models in both consumer and SME risk. This visual refresh and new website reflects DirectID’s focus on providing advanced data for risk decisioning, data for a new generation of consumers.”
East Lothian entrepreneur announced as Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2022 finalist
East Lothian based serial entrepreneur Sheila Hogan, founder and CEO of death tech company, Biscuit Tin, has been recognised as one of the best in the business after being named as a finalist in the Great British Entrepreneur Awards.
Biscuit Tin is the UK’s first digital legacy vault’, securely holding valuable information such as account details, important documents, post-life wishes and memories all in one place. These are then released to nominated family members in the event of death. Biscuit Tin aims to help people prepare for their deaths, with the aim of leaving family members left behind with peace of mind and minimal stress, following their bereavement.
Sheila Hogan, founder & CEO of Biscuit Tin is one of the shortlisted business leaders from across the UK to have been selected out of over 5,300 entrants – the most the awards has ever had.
The Great British Entrepreneur Awards, in partnership with Starling Bank, acknowledges and champions the hard work and uplifting stories of business owners across the UK, with an emphasis on their journey and resilience over financial achievements.
Twelve awards will be given out per region for categories including Disruptor of the Year, Entrepreneur for Good Award, and the Great British Entrepreneur of the Year. Notable winners from previous years include Social Chain founder Steven Bartlett, who went on to become the youngest ever investor on BBC’s Dragon’s Den.
Sheila Hogan said:
“I’m absolutely delighted to shortlisted for this prestigious award, and to be recognised on a UK-wide level is just fantastic. This has given the team and I a real boost and we are very much looking forward to the finals in November.”
This year’s awards will also feature a brand-new award highlighting the organisations investing in the training and development of young people. The John Caudwell Blaze Your Own Trail Award looks to recognise outstanding examples of businesses offering apprenticeships, vocational training, and diversity and inclusion initiatives, all in the name of improving young people’s access to work.
The winners will be announced at a Grand Final, held at the Grosvenor Hotel in London on 21st November.
This year is the 10th anniversary of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards. The alumni has collectively generated over £30 billion in revenue and employed more than 450,000 people.
To mark the milestone year for the programme, entrants will have the chance to win over £30,000 worth of marketing support and a tree will be planted for every application submitted with the support of Ecologi.
Founder of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, Francesca James, said the quality of this year’s entrants exemplified the strength of entrepreneurship across the UK: “The quality of applications is consistently excellent year on year, but we have been especially blown away by the innovation, drive and determination demonstrated this year. Shortlisting from so many inspiring contenders has been more challenging than ever, with many deserving cases put forward and an ever-growing business community thriving across the country.
“From the pandemic to the ongoing cost of living crisis, business owners haven’t had it easy over the past few years, but it’s a testament to the tenacity and perseverance of these entrepreneurs that they have continued on their path and refused to give in.
“This year’s finalists should be so proud of what they’ve already achieved both in business and in being shortlisted for an award – we’re looking forward to seeing everyone at the Finals and unveiling the winners!”
Anne Boden MBE, Founder of Starling Bank, headline partner of the Awards, said: “Congratulations to all those businesses who have made the shortlist. It’s great to see the passion, resilience and amazing ingenuity from entrepreneurs across so many categories.”
To book your place at the Grand Final in London on 21st November, you can go to greatbritishentrepreneurawards.com
For the full list of finalists, visit greatbritishentrepreneurawards.com
The launch of Know-it
Be A Know-it-all: The solution to the £61 billion late payment problem has launched
First of its kind cloud-based platform streamlines the approach to the credit management
process, helping businesses mitigate credit risk, reduce debtor days and boost cash flow!
Know-it, a Glasgow-based fintech start-up, has officially launched their cloud-based credit management platform. Founded by Lynne Darcey Quigley, the new platform gives businesses the tools and intelligence to automate and simplify the way they manage credit risk and the credit control process, helping save time, reduce late payments and allow them to focus on other aspects of their business.
The platform is yet another example of the ongoing innovation in the Scottish technology
industry, illustrating the continued resilience the sector has shown during recent economically volatile years.
As part of their commercial launch, they will be exhibiting at the sold out Xerocon, at Tobacco Dock, London, on 20 th and 21 st July in partnership with leading accountancy app Xero.
The platform, which is the first of its kind, allows businesses to credit check and monitor, chase for payment, collect overdue unpaid invoices, and more, all from one place. By partnering with some of the UK’s leading accountancy software and credit reference agencies ”“ such as Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, FreeAgent, and Graydon ”“ users can instantly credit check companies, get live data, and real-time updates to monitor customer’s credit behaviour and mitigate potential credit risks.
The platform also gives finance teams and business owners a simple way to check their customers’ credit worthiness. It also ensures customers pay on time through scheduled reminders and customisable chaser emails, letters, and SMS, helping reduce debtor days and increasing cash flow. Users can also get instant quotes to collect unpaid invoices quickly and efficiently through their commercial debt recovery partner, Darcey Quigley & Co, as well as receive 24/7 case updates.
Lynne Darcey Quigley, CEO, and founder of Know-it, explains: “Know-it is a fresh perspective on a traditional process ”“ while the credit control process hasn’t changed over time, our new unique platform brings together all credit control functions into one place. By removing the need to access and subscribe to multiple different platforms, our cloud-based platform streamlines the credit control process so you can credit check and monitor, chase for payment, collect overdue unpaid invoices, and more all from one easy to use platform, levelling the playing field for SMEs. This is set to transform the way businesses view the credit control process, as it will immediately help them save time and costs by providing real-time data, all from the convenience of one place.
“With the current financial climate mounting huge pressure onto the economy, businesses across the country need all the help they can access. This is a crucial time for technology to step in and offer a helping hand through an affordable and innovative credit management platform. With the launch of Know-it’s platform, businesses of all sizes are now able to Check-it, Chase-it, and Collect-it, all in real-time and without the headache of manual processing.”
The Know-it platform has launched against the backdrop of a global financial recovery and an increasing culture of late payments, which have mounted pressures on businesses and their finance departments. According to recent figures, the UK is expected to experience the slowest economic growth among other developed nations and almost half a million SMEs are at risk of failure as a result of late payments. This bleak outlook for UK businesses only intensifies the need for further support for businesses to gain access.
This follows a busy 12 months for Know-it, which saw Know-it win the prestigious Scottish EDGE award and many high-profile partnership announcements, including VFD Pro, FutureX, Nimbla and Gigged.AI, to name a few. Know-it has laid the foundation before launching and is working alongside some of most respected names in the industry. These partnerships will help more SMEs reduce instances of late payments and also help accountants better serve their clients with either a full-serviced or outsourced solution.
Know-it were recently announced as supporters of the Good Business Pays Wait Off campaign, a movement calling for faster payment drive to support small businesses as operating costs soar. The alliance is supported by the Small Business Commissioner, Federation of Small Businesses, CBI, Liz Barclay, British Chambers of Commerce and major banks amongst others.
On the recruitment front, Know-it also announced the hire of Gordon Merrylees, former Managing Director of Business Banking Scotland and Head of Entrepreneurship for Natwest, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), and Ulster Bank. Merrylees joined Know-it as its inaugural Chief Commercial Officer in the summer of 2021 following a 36-year career within the banking sector. Merrylees’ arrival has helped Know-it connect and form crucial partnerships across the UK entrepreneurial ecosystem in particular banks, serial entrepreneurs, industry bodies and the accountancy sector ahead of its commercial launch. The adoption of technology by small and medium sized businesses is massive as Gordon adds “Notwithstanding the many challenges of the current financial crisis post pandemic, technology adoption is a big driver of productivity, however micro SMBs are half as digitized as medium sized firms. We know that using 2 or more innovative, tech solutions such as our Know-it platform to automate their credit control process for example, micro-SMBs benefit from a 25% increase in productivity whilst at the same time are able to reduce their debtor days, tackle late payments and improve their cashflow daily.”
Know-it have also very recently appointed Wendy McMurray as Head of Product, an accomplished product manager and innovator with 20 years’ experience and a proven track record in designing, developing and delivering products in line with strategic priorities. They have also appointed a new Head of Marketing starting in August.
Jack Malcolm, Relationship Manager, West Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “Royal Bank of Scotland is proud to have played a part in Know-it’s journey, helping support Lynne and the team from their inception and beta testing, through to providing funding to achieve its growth plan and the launch of today’s credit management platform. As a leading champion of Scottish SMEs, we look forward to continuing to work with Know-it, and are excited to see what the future holds for this promising Scottish fintech.”
Marketing Director of Fintech Scotland, Mickael Paris adds “We’re delighted to see Know-it launch its exciting and innovative solution. The team engaged with FinTech Scotland early on so we have been privileged to witness their journey from ideation to commercialisation. Know-it will play a crucial role in helping businesses improve their cashflow which, now more than ever, can be vital for them to face the current economic uncertainty. Know-it exemplifies how fintech is a real force for good, delivering better outcome for businesses and people. We look forward to accompanying Lynne and her team on their road to success.”
Lynne concludes: “Although this platform has been several years in the making, it was not our intention to launch the Know-it platform during the global economic struggle. Yet there is a timely opening for the platform to provide an additional layer of support for vulnerable businesses at a time when they need it most. Support from automated and effective credit management systems has traditionally been out of reach until now. We hope this pioneering technology will provide businesses with the comprehensive and holistic solution they need to work smarter at a time when businesses are now turning to technology to help mitigate current financial challenges.”
“Here at Know-it, we are proud to be the latest Scottish innovators harnessing the newest technologies and provide a solution for businesses to overcome the challenging, real-world issues facing their operations.
ENDS
About Know-it
Know-it is the cloud-based credit management platform with a difference. The platform streamlines the credit control process so you can credit check and monitor, chase for payment, collect overdue unpaid invoices, and more all from one place. They partner with leading credit agencies and accountancy software such as Graydon, Companies House, The Gazette, Unsecured Creditors, Sage, Xero, QuickBooks, and FreeAgent. These partners provide businesses with essential real-time credit information that will help to avoid fraud, get real-time credit information for companies, upload sales
and purchase ledger and automatically send payment chasers when invoices are due. In turn, Know-it provides you with a place that brings it all together. Know-it was founded in 2019 by Lynne Darcey Quigley, who has worked within the debt recovery industry for over 25 years and is also the founder of commercial debt recovery company, Darcey Quigley & Co. For more information, please see: https://know-it.co.uk/
Scotland’s Fifth Fintech Festival Celebrating UK Wide Innovation
Celebrating collaborative innovation that is driving economic recovery will be a core theme at Scotland’s Fintech Festival which will take place over four weeks in September and October.
This will be the fifth FinTech Festival hosted by FinTech Scotland with every indication that this will be even larger than previous years with participation from leading entrepreneurs, innovators and policy makers from across the UK and the world.
Every year since 2018, Scotland’s Fintech Festival has showcased the growing innovation across the fintech cluster involving a diverse range of fintech leaders and organisations
The 2022 FinTech Festival will give particular emphasis to the growing collaboration throughout the UK which is enabling the progress of the much-acclaimed FinTech Research & Innovation Roadmap launched in March of this year by FinTech Scotland
The FinTech Festival opens on 15th of September with the Annual Fintech Summit at Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh and conclude on 6th of October with an evening of Fintech Awards recognising the achievements of people and organisations across the fintech cluster.
Commenting Nicola Anderson, FinTech Scotland Chief Executive said:
“The Festival has grown each year, despite the pandemic, and for 2022 I’m looking forward more in-person events. The four weeks is an ideal opportunity to share how collaborative innovation has a key role to play in addressing economic and social challenges”
A Festival highlight will be the UK Fintech Symposium taking place at NatWest Gogarburn headquarters on 22ndSeptember, bringing together all the UK regional fintech clusters as well as Government ministers, regulators and leading fintech innovation influencers to discuss financial innovation contribution to economic recovery.
Stephen Ingledew, FinTech Scotland chairman and host of the UK FinTech Assembly said,
“The Festival will celebrate how fintech is very much a team’ activity and how this UK collaborative approach to innovation is fueling sustainable growth and job creation as well as a positive social impact to benefit all UK regions and communities.”
The many diverse Festival events and gatherings are already scheduled and many more will be added on www.scotlandfintechfestival.com.