Clearwater Analytics’ IPO Fuels Global Expansion
Clearwater Analytics is on a mission to revolutionise the world of investing.
For more than 15 years, Clearwater Analytics has provided a true SaaS solution for investment accounting and reporting that’s now trusted by more than 1,000 clients worldwide, including institutional investors in insurance, asset management, corporate treasury, the public sector, and more.
In September, Clearwater took an important step in furthering that mission through an IPO. The company is now listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CWAN.
Although this is an exciting achievement for the company, in many ways it’s business as usual at Clearwater. Clearwater has always prioritisedinvesting a large share of profits ”“ 25%+ back into research and development to ensure the continual improvement of the Clearwater solution and to meet evolving market needs. That commitment continues.
In recent years, Clearwater has also committed to a global expansion that enables the company to grow and support clients around the world. Going public helps support that expansion in Europe, a major part of Clearwater’s global team, where the company recently opened offices in Paris and Frankfurt, in addition to existing offices in London and Edinburgh. Clearwater also operates in the U.S., India, and Singapore.
“Clearwater has rapidly expanded our European client base, including adding some of the largest European financial institutions as clients”, said Colin Clunie, Head of EMEA Operations at Clearwater. “This shows the exciting opportunity we have to continue to grow in the region and deliver to our clients at a local level. It also enables us to attract the highest calibre of diverse talent to support our growth, foster innovation, and create solutions for tomorrow’s challenges.”
The Edinburgh operations centre which serves as a key operations hub for Clearwater has grown by 30% so far in 2021, and that’s expected to continue. Clearwater is building out capabilities at all levels ”“ from recent graduates to senior industry professionals. Further, the European team alone speaks 22 languages. This means Clearwater has the depth and expertise to provide world-class service tailored to the individual needs of its growing client list, regardless of location.
Clearwater’s SaaS solution automates and simplifies the complex tasks associated with investment accounting and reporting while providing clients with a complete and validated investment data set across their portfolios daily. For global teams, Clearwater’s multi-basis, multi-currency solution is accessed simply through a web browser, making it easy to work from any location and trust the entire team has access to a secure, single source of truth for investment data.
Scotcoin ”“ download a Scotwallet!
Scotcoin is one of the longest-lived country crypto currencies, having been founded in 2013. Under the present management team since 2015, the number of holders now stands at around 7000 and in over 50 countries.
Scotcoin is on the Ethereum mainnet as an ERC20 token. It has been verified by Etherscan and code audited by Hacken.io. They have given Scotcoin their highest rating.
Scotcoin was early into recognising that governments would require regulation. New holders require to go through KYC (Know your customer) and AML (Anti money laundering) procedures. Scotcoin’s ecosystem is directly connected with the charity sector.
Scotcoin occupies the social good works ecosystem and plans are well advanced to accelerate this, with a Third Sector manager appointed. Scotcoin very much wants everyone in Scotland to be better off. Everyone within Scotcoin is working to achieve this. Charities will be able to apply to receive Scotcoin to work within their own ecosystem in a number of ways. The Scotcoin Project CIC (TSPCIC) – Scotcoin’s educational and informational arm – recently held an event for Social Enterprise Scotland to showcase how crypto and especially Scotcoin can help.
Scotcoin already engages with the likes of Social Bite, The Big issue and the IPPR; it partners with Better Internet Search and BBX. These organisations help people that have problems to get on their feet again. This is both Scotcoin’s goal and desire. TSP CIC Temple Melville says: “Please help with our ongoing development and mission.”
Please follow us on
WEBSITE: https://scotcoinproject.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/scotcoin
TWITTER https://twitter.com/ScotcoinProject
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If you wish to be involved with our vision and work, get in touch. You will need a
wallet ”“ go to https://scotwallet.com/signup and download one. Also available on
Android and Apple.
There will be lots of interesting things to tell you!
For further information please email: TEMPLE@SCOTCOINPROJECT.COM.
Actuary and Quantitative Finance masters students undertake summer projects proposed and co-supervised by financial services companies.
University of Strathclyde students on the MScs Actuarial Sciences and Quantitative Finance undertake a summer project as part of their MSc. Some projects are co-supervised by industry partners and are based on their business interests.
We are currently seeking ideas from industry for projects taking place in summer 2022.
Companies can be based in the UK or overseas. Companies participating in the scheme in previous years benefited not only from the direct project outputs but also from accessing talented students. This can be a route to recruitment and developing a closer relationship with the university.
The Students benefit from the exposure to business. They see the problems that industry are interested in and get experience working with business. This improves their employability upon completing their MSc.
Project subject matter is flexible. It needs to be quantitative in nature and relevant to the financial sector. Projects last 12 weeks from late May to late August. In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, projects and associated meetings may need to be undertaken remotely ”“ this worked very well in summer 2021. Industry supervision can be light touch or more intense, to suit the project and supervisor, though some input is required from the industry. No fees to students or to the University are involved.
Companies submit project ideas to the University and students select and apply for them. Industry Supervisors (remotely) interview students and select the best match. Students are also assigned an academic supervisor. The student’s project plan, final report and oral presentation are judged by both the academic and industrial supervisors.
For summer 2022 projects, ideas are invited from industry by mid-January 2022 using a short pro-forma.
For further information, or if you have any questions, please contact Ian Dwyer by email at ian.dwyer@strath.ac.uk
Scottish fintech Legado partners with MoneyHub
Today, Scottish fintech Legado announced a new partnership with open finance company Moneyhub.
Moneyhub customers will benefit from Legado’s encrypted personal Digital Vault services , enabling them to store their pension, life insurance and mortgage statements and policy documents securely and electronically.
By holding all those documents from different providers in one place, Moneyhub users can get a clearer picture of their financial histories and plan for the future. They will also be able to securely share those documents with selected third parties, such as advisers, friends and family. Each user will receive their own personal, portable and access-controlled vault, with features including after-death sharing and data integrations.
Legado is backed by UK insurer M&G and Edinburgh-based global platform-as-a-service provider FNZ, both part of the FinTech Scotland cluster.
Sam Seaton, CEO of Moneyhub said:
“As an Open Finance and Open Banking leader, Moneyhub truly is a hub for money, offering connections to pension and wealth management accounts, banking, insurance and investment, and more. And one thing all the various account types have in common is paperwork, which is why we have partnered with Legado to offer our clients a market-leading digital vault solution.”
Josif Grace, CEO & Founder of Legado said:
“As two technology leaders focused on helping businesses create exceptional digital experiences and consumers better prepare for the future, this partnership made a lot of sense. We are delighted to be working with the team at MoneyHub to create a world-class proposition.”
Scotland’s digital roles grow by over 25% year on year
Scotland’s tech sector is going through a rapid growth according to the UK’s Secretary of State for the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
New figures released today show tech jobs in Glasgow and Edinburgh have increased by more than 25% in the past two years, way above the UK’s average.
According to Adzuna IT-related vacancies account for 13% of all UK job vacancies whilst this number is 30% in Edinburgh and 28% in Glasgow.
Today 135,000 people are employed by Scottish tech startups and scaleups. This is the 3rd highest number in the UK after the South East and London.
Software developers and data scientists are in high demand fo r the tech sector. Developers in Edinburgh and Glasgow can command an average salary of £45,000 or £55,000 for more senior positions.
There is an increasing demand for senior-level employees across all areas of Scottish tech. For instance, 89% of available roles for IT System Architects are all for senior positions.
Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries said:
“Scottish tech is booming and this thriving sector is creating exciting opportunities up and down the country.
“The UK government is determined to see this success continue and is investing heavily to help people in Scotland get the skills they need to seize the opportunities on offer and build back better from the pandemic.”
2021 is also a great year for investment with UK Tech companies having raised £13.5 billion in the first half of this yearend Scotland raising £446 million, the highest number so far.
Fintech is one of the biggest sectors for fundraising in the UK generally and in Scotland more specifically. The biggest fundraising round in 2021 so far was for the Kirkcaldy-based fintech Paysend, which raised £90.5m in Series B funding.
Dr George Windsor, Head of Insights at Tech Nation said:
“Edinburgh is proving to be one of the fastest-growing tech cities in the UK, with a higher number of opportunities and salaries compared to other cities. Glasgow is also making a name for itself as a destination for tech workers, with some of the best cost of living standards compared to the median tech salary of the whole UK. With scaling companies in sectors such as fintech and health tech, Scotland’s tech sector is only expected to grow in the next few years.”
Photo by ThisIsEngineering from Pexels
Festival of Fintech Innovation Shaping the Emerging Digital Economy
A rich diversity of innovative participants and initiatives will be showcased at this year’s fintech festivals in Scotland which gets underway from today
For the next 4 weeks, Scotland will be the stage of more than 50 events bringing alive the burgeoning impact of fintech leaders and capabilities which are shaping many elements of the emerging digital economy.
The festival, organised under the umbrella of Fintech Scotland, is in its fourth year and will build on the impactful platform of previous years in demonstrating how financial innovation is supporting citizens, business, regulators and government build towards economic and social recovery after the pandemic.
This year’s festival is even more diverse with a broad range of innovation themes and participants form fintech entrepreneurs, large global enterprises, universities, the public sector and the regulator, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which is hosting half a dozen events on topics such as cryptocurrency, sustainability and the regulatory sandbox.
The festival has a significant global reach with participation organised with fintech innovators in the USA, Europe, Australia working in conjunction with Scottish Development International and UK Govt Department of International Trade.
The formal kick off is the Fintech Summit, a hybrid online and in person event at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh organised by online publisher Digit
The festival will conclude on the 14th of October with an all-day in person UK wide FinTech Conference at the University of Strathclyde Technology & Innovation Centre organised by Canongate Publishing and The Times.
This high-profile event hosted by Fintech Scotland, well bring together speakers from across the UK fintech centres in England, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as presentations from UK Government and Scottish Government Ministers and Ron Kalifa, the author of the Treasury’s recently commissioned Fintech Review.
Nicola Anderson, CEO at FinTech Scotland said:
“We’re looking forward to connecting with colleagues as we welcome the return of some face-to-face events as well as a variety of digital and virtual events. The range of topics, contributions and organisations taking part really demonstrates the breadth, expertise and diversity that drives fintech innovation in Scotland.”
Fiona MacKinnon, responsible for business events at VisitScotland said:
“We’re delighted to once again support the FinTech Scotland Festival. It’s an opportunity to come together to learn, connect and collaborate both virtually and face to face. This year we’re extending a warm welcome to delegates from over 30 countries and look forward to learning from a global community and sharing our own knowledge and expertise.”
Growing FinTech Community Driving Digital Economic Transformation through the pandemic
FinTech Scotland announce 50% Plus Growth of Scottish Fintech SMEs and a New Entrepreneur Advisory Board
The number of Scottish Fintech SMEs has increased by over fifty per cent during the eighteen months of the pandemic with the FinTech Scotland entrepreneurial community growing from 119 in March 2020 to 181 today.
The growth in the innovative enterprises reflects the increase in demand for financial technologies as more and more of the economy and society adapts to a digital environment driven by the challenges of the pandemic.
The news of the growth comes as FinTech Scotland announces a SME Advisory Board made up of leaders from the fintech entrepreneurial community focused on ensuring the necessary support is in place to continue the momentum of fintech innovation
Initially, the Advisory Board focus on providing impetus on skills development, experience when it comes to accessing funding and commercialisation opportunities.
The Advisory Board includes a diverse range of founders and leaders; Jude Cook (ShareIn), James Varga (DirectID), Loral Quinn (Sustainably), Anthony Rafferty (Origo), Pardeep Cassells (AccessFintech), Andrew Duncan (Soar), Andrew Veitch (EedenBull), Stuart Lunn (LendingCrowd) and Russell Jaques (Fin-Q).
Stephen Ingledew, Executive Chairman at FinTech Scotland and Chair of the Fintech Advisory Board said,
“There is growing recognition of the valuable role fintech in contributing to the digital economy, therefore, formally bringing together prominent group of entrepreneurs signifies Fintech Scotland ongoing commitment to ensure the best support is available for innovative enterprises in Scotland”
Jude Cook Co-Founder of ShareIn added:
“It’s great to see more entrepreneurs joining the FinTech Scotland community. Scotland is such an interesting place to be in the run up to COP26 climate negotiations here in Glasgow in November. Fintech has a vital role to play as we emerge from the COVID 19 pandemic.”
Nicola Anderson CEO of FinTech Scotland said:
“We are focused on supporting fintech innovation in Scotland and the number of fintech SME’s establishing themselves here is a testament to the talent and experience across the Cluster. This Board helps us build on that talent and expend the practical fintech expertise that continues to build and evolve in Scotland”
AutoRek selected by Superscript for Bordereau Reconciliations & CASS 5 Automation
Scottish fintech AutoRek just announced that Superscript would come on board as a new client.
Established in 2015, Insurtech Superscript is disrupting the business insurance distribution model, placing customers at the core of their business. It uses a flexible monthly subscription model suited to the fast-changing needs of today’s small businesses. With Superscript, customers can obtain quotes, set-up their cover in minutes, pay, modify, or cancel their cover any time, easily.
Autorek will be used by Superscript and become part of their digitally driven architecture to deliver end-to-end automation and to enable the business to scale and meet its exciting growth plans.
Gordon McHarg, CEO at AutoRek, added,
“We are delighted to have a client such as Superscript come on board. It is an exciting time for both Superscript and AutoRek in terms of growth plans and we look forward to collaborating on this project and building on our relationship.”
Piers Williams, Insurance Lead at AutoRek, added,
“We are excited to work with the team at Superscript, particularly as they are strong players in the new wave of digitally driven Insurance firms. We have built our Bordereau solution based on the market need and are looking forward to working with the team at Superscript to implement our market leading solution to deliver end-to-end automation.”
Anil Sharma, Chief Financial Officer at Superscript, said:
“Superscript has ambitious growth plans, and we are scaling quickly. As we are managing an increasing amount of policy transactions, the implementation of AutoRek’s technology will help increase efficiency for the finance team. Importantly, it can be incorporated seamlessly and will be a useful addition to our existing systems.”
Big win for Scottish Fintech Origo
Origo is delighted that Capgemini and Origo have been appointed to supply the central digital architecture for the Pensions Dashboards Programme and will be working with the PDP to help deliver the service for the benefit of UK pensions holders.
Announced by the Pensions Dashboards Programme and the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) on 6 September 2021, the contract was awarded to Capgemini, who will partner with Origo to deliver the specified elements of the central digital architecture, namely the pensions finder service, consent and authorisation service and governance register, which will form a key part of the pensions dashboard ecosystem.
Origo has been fully committed to progressing pensions dashboards from the day the project was announced. Our 30-year history has been about delivering ground-breaking technology to make financial services more efficient and cost effective, and improve outcomes for savers and investors.
PDP stated that the Capgemini/Origo bid was successful “due to its quality and value for money, plus the credibility and expertise of both parties to deliver the contract.”
The procurement process
The procurement followed an extensive period of engagement by the PDP, with both the pensions industry and potential suppliers, which shaped the development of the technical requirements. This included several market engagement exercises and webinars to explain how the digital architecture will work and the policy background to the programme.
The five-month procurement started with the invitation to tender in April this year. The open and transparent process, used Lot 4a (Programmes and large projects ”“ covering Government official security classification) of the Crown Commercial Service Technology Services 2 framework agreement. This approach complies with all necessary government spend controls and provided a speedy, effective method to procure the digital architecture.
The successful conclusion to the procurement marks the end of the first phase of the Pensions Dashboards Programme, and is a major step towards bringing pensions dashboards to life. The programme now moves into its develop and test phase, as indicated on the PDP programme timeline. The focus now shifts to building the software elements that will make pensions dashboards work and testing the ecosystem, with the volunteer organisations that have signed up to be part of the testing phases.
Richard James, Programme Director of the Pensions Dashboards Programme at MaPS, commented on the day of the announcement: “Today’s announcement of a digital technology supplier marks the moment when dashboards move off the drawing board, and become real. I’m delighted to partner with Capgemini and Origo, who really impressed us with the quality of their bid; and whose deep pensions industry expertise coupled with extensive experience of delivering major programmes makes them superb partners for the programme. PDP now formally moves into its delivery phase, and I am looking forward to working with our new supplier, and across the industry, to make a success of pensions dashboards, and enable individuals to take control of their retirement planning.
Paul Margetts, Managing Director of Capgemini in the UK echoed our own delight “to have been chosen as the digital technology partner to build the core architecture and support the significant milestone of bringing pensions dashboards to life.” He added: “We believe our success is founded not only upon our expertise and deep capabilities but also through our strategic collaboration with Origo, who is dedicated to improving the financial services industry’s operating efficiencies. We are looking forward to working with the Pensions Dashboards Programme to support them in delivering a seamless service that will allow UK pension holders the control and visibility to take action and plan for the future.”
Concept to reality
Guy Opperman, Minister for Pensions, said that the announcement was “a crucial milestone for the dashboards programme, taking things to the next phase, where the concept starts to become a reality.
He added: “We’ve already put in place the primary legislation needed to pave the way for pensions dashboards. Now the programme, in partnership with Capgemini and Origo, can start to implement the technical elements, bringing the delivery of the first functioning dashboards even closer.
“I have previously urged pension schemes to get their data ready for dashboards. My message remains ”“ schemes should be improving their data quality as part of their preparations for participating. The clock is ticking and this achievement is yet another reminder that schemes must be getting ready to connect.”
Anyone interested in keeping up to date with programme updates and future call for inputs can sign up to receive the monthly Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) newsletter, and following PDP on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Scottish fintech zumo posts 100x user growth
One year on from a 150% oversubscribed £1.66 million seed funding round closed in just a few short hours, Scottish fintech Zumo has reported that its customer base grew a hundred-fold over the course of the year, increasing from 500 in August 2020 to 50,000 in August 2021.
Founded with the mission statement smart money for everyone’, the Edinburgh-based crypto wallet and payments platform is one of a range of Scottish-born fintechs thriving amidst the vibrant Scottish fintech scene, with underpinning GBP payment services provided by fellow young company and FinTech Scotland member Modulr.
Backed by early investors including Murray Capital, Coldplay’s Guy Berryman and the Scottish Investment Bank, Zumo’s mobile app and B2B product offering aims to bring the benefits of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology to people and businesses everywhere, and it will continue to pursue ambition plans for growth over the course of 2022.
Other highlights from the past year included:
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Product: launch of a new virtual Visa debit card offering seamless cash-to-cryptocurrency payment functionality, alongside innovative smart price alert and smartfolio portfolio tracking features;
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People: a doubled workforce, with key strategic hires and appointments including Chief Operating Officer Dagmara Aldridge; Chief Technology Officer Tim Sabanov; and Non-Executive Director Andy Downes;
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Enterprise: the launch of ZumoKit, a B2B crypto-as-a-service solution that allows fintechs, banks and payment providers to connect to the blockchain, adopt digital and crypto currency solutions and profit from decentralisation; and
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Awards: recognition as a start-up to watch’ by Sifted, the FT-backed start-up monitoring platform, alongside further individual wins and nominations at the UK FinTech, Women in FinTech and EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards.
Nick Jones, Zumo CEO, commented:
“As we grow, it’s great to see the fintech ecosystem around us growing, too – not least through the efforts of organisations such as FinTech Scotland.
“With a global outlook, and breadth of product offering covering both mainstream consumer and business needs, we believe ourselves well placed to capitalise on unprecedented and growing consumer and institutional interest in digital assets and decentralised applications.
“We’re here to provide a new generation of smart money solutions for a new, decentralised economy – bringing financial wellness to people everywhere, not just the most tech savvy or financially literate.”