Partnership announced between LendingCrowd and ICAS
Scottish fintech LendingCrowd have signed a strategic partnership with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS). The partnership effectively makes LendingCrowd ICAS’s preferred partner in its Business Loans category.
With this partnership ICAS will provide LendingCrowd with a new channel to tell their network of member accountants about alternatives to traditional bank lending and their benefits. In exchange, LendingCrowd will give a special discount on client fees to ICAS members.
The partnership will last for an initial period of three years, until 2022.
Commenting, LendingCrowd founder and CEO Stuart Lunn said: “We are delighted to announce this strategic partnership with ICAS, which brings real opportunities for us all. It is a fantastic platform for us to showcase the benefits of alternatives to traditional bank lending, and for ICAS members to then utilise these benefits. It marks another important step forward in LendingCrowd’s growth story, five years after we launched. We look forward to working closely with ICAS and making this partnership a real success story.”
Commenting, ICAS Chief Executive, Bruce Cartwright CA, said: “We are pleased to have entered into a strategic partnership with LendingCrowd and secured a new, exclusive benefit for our members. Through our partnership, ICAS members’ clients can now claim 25% off LendingCrowd business loan fees. We look forward to working with LendingCrowd over the coming years.”
Fintech ShareIn launch new Payments Product To Address Gap In The Market
Edinburgh based fintech firm launched a new specialist payment product called ShareInPay for platforms holding ISA money.
ShareIn operate investment platforms for clients such as Triodos Bank, the Dutch Ethical Bank, Crowdlords, Residential Property investments and Energise Africa.
ShareIn has been an Innovative Finance ISA Manager since Dec 2016 and many of their investment platforms offer Innovative Finance ISA products.
CTO and Co-Founder, Andrew Pickett says. “We needed a solution for our platforms to hold Client Money that wasn’t e-money. We searched everywhere and couldn’t find an API driven Client Money solution. So we decided we needed to build this ourselves.”
ShareIn obtained the regulatory permission to hold Client Money from the Financial Conduct Authority earlier this year.
CEO, Cook said “To say holding Client Money is difficult is a little bit of an understatement. There are few things in the Financial Regulatory environment more important than holding other people’s money.”
The launch of ShareInPay marks the start of a modular software approach for ShareIn to enable investment business more generally. Modules that work together or separately with an existing platform.
For more information contact:
Jude Cook, ShareIn Ltd, +44 7956123405, jude@sharein.com
LendingCrowd crowned Best P2P Business Lender
Edinburgh-based fintech lending platform LendingCrowd has been crowned the UK’s Best P2P Business Lender at the first ever Growth Finance Awards, held in London.
LendingCrowd, which is the only SME lender of its kind headquartered in Scotland, was recognised for its “best-in-class digital platform, transparency, as well as ample resources for both borrowers and lenders”.
Founder and CEO Stuart Lunn said: “To be named Best P2P Business Lender is testament to the significant strides we have made since our launch in 2014. LendingCrowd exists to help alleviate the funding gap facing the UK’s vital community of SMEs, and we’re delighted to have received this recognition at the Growth Finance Awards.”
The award was presented to Stuart and LendingCrowd Chief Marketing Officer Darren Cairns by Simon Bonney, partner at category sponsor Quantuma.
The Growth Finance Awards, organised by Intelligent Partnership and hosted by television presenter Claudia Winkleman, were designed to highlight the role of the finance community in supporting the growth ambitions of SMEs across the UK. More than 300 guests attended the black-tie event, which took place on Wednesday 11 September at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.
Guy Tolhurst, Managing Director of Intelligent Partnership, said: “Just to be recognised as a finalist is a great achievement in itself, but to take home a prize is a truly impressive accolade. I look forward to next year’s event and continuing to educate growing businesses about the wide variety of financial options that are available to them.”
Since its launch in late 2014, LendingCrowd has facilitated more than 740 loans to SMEs across the UK with a total value of £65 million, with more than £15 million of lending in Scotland.
LendingCrowd has also been named as a finalist in the Impact and Investment category of the Scottish Financial Services Awards, organised by Scottish Financial Enterprise and sponsored by EY. The shortlisting is in recognition of the unique £18.75 million funding partnership that LendingCrowd has created with Scottish Investment Bank and Dutch entrepreneurial bank NIBC to fund the ambitions of SMEs across Scotland and the rest of the UK.
Sopra Steria and the University of Edinburgh launch fintech collaboration programme: Chemistry for Financial Services
On August 23rd Sopra Steria and the University of Edinburgh, supported by FinTech Scotland, launched Chemistry for Financial Services, a collaboration programme aimed at encouraging co-creation initiatives between fintech firms, technology providers, academia and established financial service companies.
Companies that have been selected to join the Chemistry programme will be co-creating and taking to market new solutions which address business challenges and improve the financial wellbeing of consumers.
With the launch, the first two challenges have now been released. Both are focused on mortgages, making them more accessible and improving the customer experience for existing mortgage holders.
Applications are now open until September 23rd, 2019. Mid-October, shortlisted applicants will pitch their ideas to a panel of industry experts and Sopra Steria’s clients. Companies selected by the panel, will then join a design sprint at Sopra Steria’s Digilab before presenting the output to multiple clients leading to potential commercial arrangements.
Commenting on the launch Mingaile Vaisnoraite, Customer Experience Consultant at Sopra Steria declared:
“Our Chemistry programme is about working with Start-Ups and SME’s with strong support from FInTech Scotland and Edinburgh University to energise change and create new, innovative solutions. This is a really exciting opportunity where we can re-imagine how financial companies interact with customers and deliver new services and products. There is a wealth of SME and start-up talent in the FinTech sector and with FinTech Scotland and Edinburgh University we want to help them with their ambition to grow, win new business and be successful.”
Dr John Lonsdale, Head of Enterprise at Edinburgh Innovations, University of Edinburgh said:
“We are delighted to be working with Sopra Steria and Fintech Scotland to provide innovation opportunities for emerging Fintech companies. The Chemistry programme contributes towards making Edinburgh the Data Capital of Europe, encouraging company-to-University linkages, and providing opportunities for entrepreneurs to work with leading financial services companies to create innovative solutions for customers.”
To read more and apply for the programme please click here.
FinTech Scotland launches its Consumer Panel
FinTech Scotland has launched a Consumer Panel to support inclusive fintech business development. It will connect consumer and citizen advocate groups into the fintech ecosystem with the emphasis on citizen financial inclusion, problem solving and innovation.
The panel will provide ease of access to a citizen and consumer voice for fintech innovators, and build an inclusive network across consumer groups, innovation and technology. The objective is for open, practical and diverse engagement, to bring citizens and consumers directly into fintech product design.
Recent UK research showed 24% of UK adults have little or no confidence in managing their money, with 18-24-year-olds rating themselves as the least confident.
Scottish entrepreneurs are achieving true change. They are introducing easier and better ways to deal with money as well as new products and services that adapt to the changing needs of today’s society. Many are presenting updates during FinTech Scotland’s Festival in September.
The Consumer Panel offers a practical way to connect fintech entrepreneurs and their growing ability to find new and innovative solutions, with real and everyday financial issues impacting customers/consumers.
Founding members come from a range of Consumer Advocate organisations, Third and Public sector, as well as Academia. Those participating include, Money Advice Scotland, Scottish Government, University of Strathclyde and University of Edinburgh, The Big Issue, The Money and Pensions Service, Step Change, Age Scotland, Fresh Start Edinburgh, Passion4Fusion and Mental Health and Money Advice.
Stephen Ingledew FinTech Scotland’s CEO said “This is an important aspect to the work of FinTech Scotland. Fintech provides a major opportunity to improve the way people can engage with their money and finances. The consumer panel aims to bring people directly into the conversation and increase inclusion within fintech and the financial services industry more broadly. It will give greater access to customer insights enhancing the focus for good customer outcomes which is our definition of what the fintech movement is.”
Speaking for Money Advice Scotland, CEO Yvonne MacDermid welcomes this initiative. “Working with fintech propositions will help the debt advice sector connect with more people in a range of different ways and enable consumers to gain confidence in using digital applications”
Kate Forbes MSP fully endorsed this initiative saying “The FinTech consumer panel will help drive inclusion across our society and economy as we make new technological and digital developments. This is a hugely positive and practical step that will ensure that our people are fully involved in the digitalisation of our technology and financial services”.
Clearscore announced RomanAgora the User-centric IDV Blockchain Consortium in partnership with Ocyan
Clearscore is announcing the RomanAgora consortium – an Identity Verification (IDV) consortium and data marketplace.
End users will now be even more enabled to use services in a faster and more transparent manner – having more control over their data and when it is being shared. RomanAgora’s mission is to reduce the cost of checks, speed up processing and solve fraud while giving users control over their data.
Previously used applications involve heavy manual operations and multiple checks handling for the same individual. This costs a lot and requires a significant amount of time. Blockchain – a shared ledger of identity data between counterparties – solves this by allowing us to utilise a unique set of data multiple times without the need of identifying the individual continuously.
This partnership is disrupting the fintech space globally by allowing end users, credit bureaus and financial services providers to use a common platform for Identity Verification.
This is an overall greatly innovative platform due to the ability to now verify an individual’s identity a lot faster in a secure and traceable way utilising the latest blockchain technology as well as infrastructure. Blockchain technology and capabilities can play a big role in securing as well as accelerating financial applications.
Ocyan is proud to be the technology partner of choice for Clearscore focusing on cloud-native analytics and infrastructure for enterprise-ready Blockchain applications. By providing the complete End-to-End Cloud Platform for enterprise blockchains, large
organasations can easily innovate, scale and integrate their ventures with their rest of their legacy and cloud applications.
With the automation that Ocyan provides, partners of RomanAgora don’t have to bare the integration or infrastructure cost to join this consortium, making the required network effect of this collaboration much more interesting and less of an effort than anything else similar on the market.
This is a massive leap forward creating the first enterprise grade, scalable and production running consortium. An incredible achievement, one of the very few globally and perhaps the first IDV effort at such scale.
End users are now able to receive responses sooner, more efficiently and with the safety this technology provides as well as impactful innovation by Clearscore and Ocyan.
Gabriele Cacciola, the CTO of Ocyan commented:
“RomanAgora is a totally revolutionary platform that, thanks to the Blockchain features and capabilities, will allow end users to finally have their credit and identity profiles securely stored and get back control of their data.”
Money Dashboard raises £4.6m, the biggest fintech raise on Crowdcube this year
Money Dashboard‘s personal finance management platform that connects to over 70 financial institutions to help users manage all their accounts in one place has just raised £4.6m.
Additionally, existing investors Scottish Investment Bank and Calculus Capital also invested. The initial target was £1.5m, however that number was reached in just 45minutes.
Funds are to be used to build out the market leading personal finance app and triple the company’s Edinburgh-based team from 20 to 60 staff.
Luke Lang, co-founder of Crowdcube, commented:
“Money Dashboard’s vision to help people better manage their money has once again resonated with many of our investors. It’s fantastic to see an innovative business connect their community, fuel their growth and take those investors, in this case, on their journey to create a fairer financial landscape.”
Steve Tigar, CEO said:
“We’re absolutely thrilled to have secured this latest round of funding, particularly with the backing of over 3000 people who share our vision. We are now equipped and ready to help people from every walk of life master their money.”
Kerry Sharp, Director of Scottish Investment Bank said:
“Having supported Money Dashboard from an early stage, it is great to see the business raising the funds required to implement the next stage in its growth. The FinTech sector is a key industry in Scotland’s economy and we look forward to continuing to work with the company, both from an investment perspective and through our account management support, to deliver its long-term growth ambitions.”
Women’s Coin to launch during Scotland’s Fintech Festival
Blog by (Prof) Christine Bamford Founder and CEO Women’s Coin
Exciting news Women’s Coin is now trading!
Women’s Coin digital currency to launch in September at Edinburgh Fintech Festival and internationally at the United Nations, New York Decade of Womenon 18thSeptember
Women’s Coin operates via Bitcoin blockchain platform, using the Counterparty protocol. Blockchain is the power behind behind digital currency enabling storage of digital assets and smart contracts. Women’s Coin is Money Laundering compliant, KYC (know your customer) and ensures total transparency in its financial conduct. In partnership with Zortrex data security company – Women’s Coin intends to secure investments through military grade data security.
Women’s Coin is not just a digital currency it is a coin of value ”“ transferring profits from the currency into humanitarian support. The profit for purpose ethos sets out to build a better world through micro-financing women owned sustainable businesses. Women’s Coin supports United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 5 ”“ Gender equality
Women’s Coin is not just for women ”“ men are also critical to the movement (He for She)
Together we can use the power of the wallet to deliver social change
If you want to learn more about Women’s Coin’s amazing vision and product, (Prof) Christine Bamford is speaking at:
- International Cyber Security Summit – 4thSeptember Edinburgh Napier University
- United Nations, New York ”“ Decade of Women – 18thSeptember
- Meeting of Coin Networking Event ”“ Virgin Money Lounge – 25thSeptember
- Fintech Summit ”“ DIGIT – 26thSeptember
womenscoin.com
@womenscoin#MorePowerToHer #Fintechscotland @KateForbes
Join Us for Scotland’s Biggest Fintech Event
With just over one month to go, DIGIT is gearing up for its sixth annual Fintech Summit, hosted at Edinburgh’s Dynamic Earth on the 25th and 26th of September.
The two-day summit will explore the rapid evolution of the financial services sector; ranging from disruption within Scotland’s startup community to ongoing tech developments at established financial institutions.
DIGIT’s 2018 Fintech Summit saw more than 400 delegates in attendance over the two days, exploring and discussing current trends and developments.
Scotland’s national strategy to establish itself as a global fintech leader will also be an area of key importance at the 2019 Fintech Summit – exploring funding, collaboration and the country’s ongoing efforts to boost digital skills.
Outside of London, Scotland boasts the UK’s most complete financial services sector with world-class capabilities in banking, investment management, asset servicing and a flourishing technology startup scene. The financial services sector also employs more than 80,000 people across Scotland.
Speaking at Fintech 18, Finance Secretary Derek Mackay said: “The sector is, and has always been, of huge importance for Scotland, and that will continue.
“It is an area in which we’ve got a longstanding reputation and are rightfully recognised as world leaders. That will continue in spite of the uncertainties of Brexit.”
Fintech Summit 2019 Speakers
Covering a range of topics and subject areas, this year’s Fintech Summit will see 30 speakers in total across the two-day event.
A selection of those set to feature include:
- Philip Goffin, CTO, FNZ
- Icy Zhang, CIO, Listings Ledger
- Amir Nooriala, COO, OakNorth
- Andrew McKee, CIO, Ultimate Finance
- Faith Reynolds, Consumer Representative, OBIE Steering Group
- Clara Durodie, Author & CEO, Cognitive Finance Group
- Kristen Bennie, Head of Open Experience, RBS
- Domenico De Fano, Senior Product Owner: Open API, Revolut
- Callum Sinclair, Partner and Head of Technology, Burness Paull
- Juliette Souliman, Fintech VC Specialist, Octopus Ventures
Information on all of the confirmed speakers at DIGIT’s 2019 Fintech Summit can be found at: www.fintech19.com
This year will also feature the inaugural Scottish Financial Technology Awards, which aim to recognise and celebrate the pioneering figures and organisations operating across Scotland’s financial services sector.
For additional information on the inaugural Scottish Financial Technology Awards, please visit: www.scottishftawards.com
CodeClan opens Data Analysis course in Glasgow
Earlier this year, CodeClan, Scotland’s national digital skills academy, introduced a new Data Analysis course, modelled upon their multiple award-winning Professional Software Development programme. The organisation has so far produced over 700 graduates through this course, many of whom are working within Fintech Scotland members, from the startup sector, through to the country’s largest financial institutions.
Developed with expert partners, including the Data Lab and Effini, the new course aims to do for data what CodeClan has already done for programming, by creating a new talent and training pipeline, to produce high quality, qualified data analysts with existing work experience and soft skills.
While the Data Analysis course was developed to support every industry sector, interest from Scotland’s fintech sector has been particularly high. So high in fact that the academy is bringing the programme to it’s city-centre Glasgow campus far earlier than planned.
A launch event is taking place at CodeClan Glasgow on August 22nd. The event is aimed at professionals already working with data, businesses which want to retrain existing staff, employers looking for new staff with valuable data skills and career changers who want to future proof their career with a valuable new set of skills.
Using the powerful R programming language, the course brings together the three key areas of data science:
- technical skills & coding
- business knowledge
- maths & statistics
Students learn the entire data analysis process from capturing requirements and asking the appropriate questions for the business, through to communicating results clearly and effectively to stakeholders. In addition the course incorporates elements of cyber security, ethics, privacy, User Experience (UX) design, visualisation and story-telling.
Hosted by CEO, Melinda Matthews, the event will introduce CodeClan, explain its teaching methods, introduce the instructor team and partner programme, with a particular focus on Glasgow’s Fintech sector. Due to high demand CodeClan suggests that early booking is recommended.
Melinda Matthews-Clarkson, the CEO of CodeClan, said: “Since we first announced the Data Analysis course, enquiries from students and demand from industry partners in Glasgow, especially those within the financial services, has been growing.
“Now our first Edinburgh cohort is underway, we’re delighted to be able to bring the course to Glasgow and we look forward to introducing businesses, employers and students to CodeClan’s unique approach to teaching data analysis.”
The Data Analysis launch takes place on 22nd August (18:00-19:30) at Clockwise, 77 Renfrew St, Glasgow. Tickets are available here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/glasgow-launch-data-analysis-course-tickets-65808810925