Why ”˜adopt’ a MSc Data Lab Student?
Article written by Bethany Rodgers-Rintoul, Delivery Lead at the MBN Academy part of MBN Solutions. MBN are one of the UK’s leading Recruitment/Talent Solutions organisations with a focus on the Data space.
If you follow MBN or The Data Lab, you’ve probably heard a lot of noise recently about The Data Lab’s MSc. Placement Programme ”¦but what really is this Programme? Why do companies take part? And most importantly, how will it benefit my organisation?
What is this Programme?
Essentially, The Data Lab’s MSc. Placement Programmeis a 10-12-week paid internship where current MSc. Data students are paired with companies across several industries and locations in Scotland. This year, we are tasked with placing around 100 students who come from 11 Universities from Aberdeen to Glasgow and everywhere in-between. These students are all funded by the Data Lab and are roughly ¾ of the way through their post graduate studies. They have the full support of the Data Lab and their University and can utilise resources from both.
How it’s organised
MBN, the Data Lab’s official delivery partners for the Programme, train all funded students in Employability skills, work with organisations to promote understanding of the Programme, help shape a suitable Project and match the most appropriate students to. MBN have been delivering the Programme for 3 years.
5 reasons to get involved:
- Address The Data Skills Gap in Scotland
The potential Data opportunity in Scotland is huge and the skills needed to take advantage of this are in great demand, but unfortunately in short supply. This Programme aims to create a steady pipeline of talented data individuals who are perfectly equipped with the relevant skills needed to help them build their professional data capability. The Data Lab MSc Programme differs from most other academic courses as it is focused on building applicable domain and soft skills expertise in addition to theoretical understanding. By developing both technical skills and industry gained “non-technical” skills that are essential to becoming a successful data scientist, we hope that these students obtain the perfect balance of hard and soft skills to ensure success in industry.
- Inclusion and Diversity
Diversity in approach, background and thought is a key driver within most organisations. A student can bring a world of fresh, diverse, new ideas to your company. They can see things from a different point of view, can help to influence decisions from a different perspective and can add value with a wider technological lens. This, along with the added research and support that they have access to, both from their University and the Data Lab, could massively help the development of your company. Often, a fresh set of eyes is all that is needed to solve problems and add innovate insight to your company.
- Gain technology knowledge
Upskilling staff through professional development/ refresher courses is often a time consuming as well as an expensive exercise. University students have been exposed to the latest technologies and tend to be very tech savvy and up to date with the latest trends. As these students are completing an MSc, they often have the added advantage of maturity which can be used to benefit an organisation. When you add “exposure to the latest tools and technologies” to “grounded maturity” you have a powerful combination. This shared knowledge can help you stay ahead of the curve and beat the competition.
- A set of helping hands
We’ve all been in this situation before, 1 million things to do and hardly any time to compete any of them. In brief, these students can help reduce the workplace pressure and “get things done”. Even with minimal commercial expertise, an extra set of hands can make all the difference. Also, with so many things to do and so little time, projects which are not high-priority’ are often put out on the back burner and forgotten about. A student can help with these projects, which in turn lightens the workload for others and can produce very interesting results.
- A chance to give back
These students are at the start of their data careers, this internship will mark the commencement of their practical’ experience. This is a huge and sometimes daunting step for these students, so helping them to establish themselves in the working world of data is a huge deal! We are all where we are today because of people who have coached and mentored us. Now, is it time to repay the favour? When you create an opportunity for a student, you are helping to prepare the next wave of Scotland’s Data Talent.
If this sounds like something that could interest you – please get in touch by dropping me a line at:
I’d be happy to talk you through this amazing initiative!
Fortnightly FinTech Fuse ”“ Developing the Global FinTech Fellowship
This past two weeks has involved a range of international activities which have further contributed to Scotland being recognized as a global fintech centre.
The time has never been so important to empahsise our global collaboration and inclusive international mindset with all corners of the world, especially Europe.
Importantly, the positive engagement from the international community to fintech developments in Scotland has been hugely encouraging, very much reflected in last week’s trade mission to Switzerland.
European Fellowship
Last week it was a privilege to join seven Scottish fintech firms on the trade mission to Zurich to meet with a range of financial institutions and stakeholders from Switzerland.
Each of the senior leaders from the seven firms delivered compelling presentations on their business propositions to a very engaged European audience.
Congratulations to Jason Forsyth from Agenor Iceflo, David Waddington from Asura Financial, Wayne Johnson from Encompass, David Smith from Renovite, Dave Jennings form The ID Co and Tom Butcher from Trakz Labs for fantastic engagement and showing fintech innovation at its very best.
Massive thanks must go to the brilliant Pat Kunz of Scottish Development International, Noel McEvoy, Marie Gow and James Penn of the Department for International Trade who engineered the delivery of such a constructive trade mission.
We were hosted by the wonderful Sabrina Schenardi at the excellent SIX Group offices for the mission which was chaired by the awesome Manuela Andalora who acted as the magnificent master of ceremony throughout the event.
It was a terrific to join an esteemed panel of Gavin Littlejohn, Katharina Bart, Keith Phillips of the Investment Association and Michael Coletta of London Stock Exchange to share thoughts how fintech can really change the financial services landscape for good.
Later in the day it was great to hear from major influencers, Catherine McGuiness of the City of London Corporation, Maria Leistner of UBS, David Bundi of PWC, Angela Yore of SkyParlour and Petra Arends-Paltzer on driving creating diversity through fintech initiatives.
On the Thursday evening, I was given the opportunity to host a Scotland dinner to bring together the fintech firms with a range of key influencers, investors and senior executives.
This gave me the opportunity to share Scotland’s international mindset based on community, collaboration and a progressive culture.
This was then brought alive even further by the inspiring Gavin Littlejohn who shared the emerging developments of a Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence in Scotland
I must also thank Catherine McGuiness who shared so eloquently her thoughts on the close collaboration between the City of London and Scotland in supporting shared objectives.
The visit to Switzerland also gave the opportunity to catch up with some of the Avaloq team including the innovative Anders Christensen and Philippe Meyer.
Avaloq are certainly a “Rolls Royce’ fintech enterprise making great strides and it is a real privilege that they are one of FinTech Scotland’s founding partners, further demonstrating their strategic leadership credentials
The links with Switzerland are growing stronger and it was wonderful to meet Caroline Rosenberger and Mike Johnson from the Chamber of Commerce team who are doing so much to build on this
Our European engagements have also extended to France this last two weeks and Mickael Paris has been at the Paris FinTech Forum, where once again we were given a very warm welcome and support.
Developing the European fintech collaboration and fellowship opportunities will continue to be an important focus for FinTech Scotland in 2019.
London Fellowship
The Switzerland trade mission also gave me the opportunity to meet and listen to some exciting London based fintech enterprises such as Rebecca Peche from Smart Pension, Sean Hunter from Oak North and Justin Farr-Jones from Creditscript.
I’m hoping they will all make a visit to the fintech community in Scotland soon.
This week saw many of the Scottish financial services and fintech leaders in London for the official launch of Scotland’s financial services prospectus at the Mansion House in the City.
It was a wonderful Burns night occasion hosted by the City of London Mayor which was brought alive by an inspiring speech by the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon and then followed by an awesome Address to a Haggis’ by Steve Ewing of Informatic Ventures.
The evening was a special fellowship opportunity to catch up with many of the inspiring leaders in Scotland such as Gillian Docherty, Russell Dalgleish and Jamie Coleman as well as make new friends such as Anyi Hobson of Commerzbank.
Big congratulations to Clare Carswell and Bronwyn Torrie from Scottish Financial Enterprise for a wonderful evening and for bringing alive Scotland Is Now’ with the prospectus.
The next morning it was along to the London Stock Exchange for the launch of Elite Scotland, the investment funding programme to support high growth companies such as Encompass.
Terrific to listen to Gordon McArthur of Beeks Financial on their impressive journey as well as hear from many of the leading figures from the Scottish investor community such as Sarah Hardy of Archangel Investors, Fraser Lusty of Equity Gap and Jackie Waring of Investing Women.
Supporting fintech firms in accessing funding options is a key priority and it was valuable to have a session recently with a range of investors on progressing this.
Many thanks to Andrew Coleman of Equity gap, Ian Mitchelmore of British Business Bank, Thomas Brock of BE Group, Michiel Smith of Apollo, Aidan Macmillan of Par Equity and Andrew Sloane of ADV for a very constructive session with actions we will follow up on.
The time in London gave me the opportunity meet up with Vishal Patel of Anthemis Group to discuss how we may work together in connecting with fintech investment opportunities in Scotland.
Very much looking forward to welcoming Vishal to Scotland in April to introduce to some of the exciting fintech firms developing a national and global presence.
Global Fellowship
The global connections are a key part in building Scotland’s fintech reputation for international development as well as inward investment.
Fantastic news last week to hear that the Hong Kong based fintech Actelligent will be developing their exciting enterprise in Scotland. Great leadership by Graham Hatton, David Leven and the SDI team.
We are delighted to welcome Charmaine Lo and the team to the Scotland fintech community and support the next stage of their journey along with many other exciting international fintech firms.
There is an opportunity to develop Scottish fintech opportunities with Hong Kong with the opening of the Bridge Pilot Programme. Thank you to Thorsten Terweiden for this.
It was great to share Scotland’s international fintech ambitions with the Global Scot community last week as well and give examples of how we are progressing to be a major fintech centre
Huge thanks to Collette Hughes from SDI for setting up the double webinar to cover all quarters of the world, it was really useful to share the plans of fintech in Scotland
Very much encouraged by the follow up feedback from the Global Scot community from around the world and the offers to support firms as they progress their international plans.
Collaborating to develop the international opportunities is a key part of our partnership with the fantastic team at Deloitte and it was really useful to catch up with Kent Mackenzie and Chris Brown on the areas to focus on for 2019.
The brilliant insights and support from the Deloitte team is a valuable asset for FinTech Scotland.
The global opportunities were also very much on the agenda for the meeting in London with Tom Helm and Sameer Gulati at the Department of International Trade as we discussed the opportunities for leveraging international opportunities.
Very much looking forward to progressing the important work of DIT FinTech Board with Tom and Sameer as well as collaborating for the FinTech Week in Spring of this year along with Graham Hatton and the SDI team.
The FinTech Week showcase event will be the Innovate Finance Global Summit and it was very helpful to catch up with Charlotte Croswell and Rolf Merchant this week in London to develop joint plans.
We’ll also be working with the Fintech North team on this and it was great to catch up with Julian Wells to hear about the terrific work he has been leading in developing the various new initiatives.
I’m very much looking forward to taking up Julian’s offer to speak at the forthcoming FinTech North events in the cities of Manchester and Leeds in the Spring.
Then we’ll be reciprocating by supporting Julian and the team with an event as part of the Fintech Festival in September which will take place across Scotland’s cities.
City Fellowship
Scotland’s cities are further enhancing their reputations as major fintech areas of activity and none more so than Glasgow.
On this it was great to meet up with Graham Smith of Glasgow City Council as well as Paul Hughes, Graeme Rennison, Jamie Rankin and Jacqui Cosgrove of Scottish Enterprise on how we can amplify the great activity to a higher level.
From the exciting developments at the University of Strathclyde through to ongoing progress of firms such as market leading Castlight Financial and Previse, there is much to share with the wider world.
Many congratulations to Previse and Edinburgh based LendingCrowd for being selected for the Tech Nation Upscale programme, well deserved recognition of their high growth potential.
I had the opportunity on Thursday to share these and other examples of the exciting fintech developments with the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce members including Niki McKenzie from the highly respected Archangel Investors and the leading academic Professor Joe Goldblatt of Queen Margaret University.
Many thanks to Liz McArevey, Alexia Haramis and Rebecca Neish for inviting me to the meeting which was unfortunately cut short by the firm alarm on the coldest day of the year!
I hope we can reconvene for part two’ of the session to share how the fintech developments in the City are relevant to all sectors and businesses
The close collaboration with the Financial Conduct Authority is a key enabler which further demonstrate the value of fintech fellowship.
In this respect I found it very helpful to catch up with Ed Smith of the FCA in London earlier in the week at the Stratford HQ and highlight some of the valuable work Nicola Anderson is leading for FinTech Scotland whilst on secondment to us.
Then yesterday it was fantastic to see so many of the fintech community and the wider financial services sector come along to the FCA Project Innovate event on Thursday afternoon.
A very big thank you to Maggie Craig for her inspiring leadership and to the engaging Steven McWhirter, Molly Benjamin, Katherine Brown, Laura Royle and Thomas Ward for a valuable event
Many thanks to the other contributors to the discussions, including David Mcllwaine from our strategic partner Pinsent Masons, Fiona Kinsler from the exciting Cyber Security firm EncompassIT and the brilliant Nilixa Devlukia from the Open Banking Team
The collaboration being developed across Scotland between fintech firms, established financial services businesses, Scottish Enterprise, the FCA and the Scottish universities is very powerful and is attracting a lot of interest.
It has been really useful to progress these plans with our strategic partners Craig Wilson and Colin Carmichael of Sopra Steria as well as Neil Cunningham and Robert McKechnie of Equifax especially in connection with university collaboration.
Also great to catch up this week with Anneli Ritari-Stewart and Steve Farquhar from our strategic partner Dentsu Aegis on how we can amplify some of the collaborative innovation taking place across our cities.
There have been other fantastic examples over this last few weeks of collaborative fellowship to support the development of fintech opportunities
For example, wonderful to hear about the successful Fife FinTech Skills Academy pilot which completed this week and the plans to build on the success and take to the next stage
Magnificent example of collaboration between innovative fintech firms such as Renovite and Ingenico along with Fife College and Fife Council. So inspiring.
Running Fellowship
My running is often a solo activity, so it was fantastic to have the opportunity to go on a run with fellow runner Pat Kunz of SDI on arrival in Zurich last week.
When Pat said he was going to show me the beautiful sights of Zurich I did not expect this to be a three mile run upwards into the sky above the City.
However, with Pat’s encouragement we made it to the top and the FIFA HQ before enjoying a more leisurely run downhill for three miles.
This all did me a power of good because on Saturday I ran my best Parkrun time for over a year so I guess hills (or should I say mountains) are good for me!!
Thanks Pat, next time it is race around Arthurs Seat when you come over to Edinburgh
My next race is the Strathaven half marathon in a couple of week’s times which I know will involve a few more hills and some wind!! Until next time.
New research to improve affordability assessment
The University of Edinburgh, Afterbanks and Inbest are collaborating on a new research project that aims to develop new methods for affordability assessment. On the one hand, they will explore new statistical frameworks to take into account the changing nature of consumers personal circumstances, financial situation and behaviours. On the other hand, they will leverage on Open Banking to not only asses whether the credit is affordable at the point is taken out, but also throughout its whole life.
This research follows the new FCA regulation that makes mandatory for consumer credit lenders to include an affordability assessment (i.e. estimate borrower’s ability to undertake the credit commitments without incurring into financial struggles) into the wider consumer creditworthiness analysis.
Raffaella Calabrese, Associate Professor at University of Edinburgh Business School, said: “The affordability assessment is not only different between borrowers, but also changes in time for the same borrower when new relevant information is available. By introducing a dynamic time-series analysis we expect to increase the accuracy and robustness in the affordability prediction.”
David Lozano, CEO of Afterbanks, said: “Our platform provides financial data to grant over 30,000 personal loans per month in Spain, and this project is an unparallel opportunity to adapt our data platform to the UK market and regulation. We are also excited to become part of the Scottish Fintech Ecosystem, hand in hand with the University of Edinburgh and Inbest”.
Manu Peleteiro, CEO of Inbest, said: “We are delighted to strengthen our partnership with the University of Edinburgh. Our ongoing collaboration has become a source competitive advantage, and the IP we developed helped us to secure projects with large financial providers in Spain. We are also thrilled to welcome Afterbanks – one of the fastest growing Fintech companies in Spain – to the Scottish Fintech ecosystem”.
About Afterbanks
Afterbanks provides a platform to securely access banking data and initiate payments in real time. Our platform provides access to all banks in Spain and the largest banks in Portugal, Italy and Mexico. It is used by dozens of third-party applications and makes over 100.000 conections a day.
About Inbest
Inbest is a data analytics platform that automates the financial planning process by gathering and analyzing customers’ personal financial information. Inbest enables financial institutions to provide financial products and services to help their customers to manage their day-to-day finances, have the right protection coverage and plan for their life goals.
FCA news – Tips to keep up to date with the regulator
I always pause for thought as I write an update on what’s happening at the FCA, thinking about how to summarise the essence of what I’ll cover and knowing I’m only focusing on a small sample of what’s going on there.
For those of you able to make it to last week’s FCA event you’ll have heard the team talk about the size of the FCA’s role and remit. Since coming back to work after the Christmas break I’ve found myself thinking about what to cover in my regular blogs, when there could be so much to highlight. So its with that thought in mind that I’m focusing the majority of my update on a couple of ways to keep up to date with what’s going on at the FCA and ending with a specific point relating to a consultation paper on cryptoassests.
Getting updates from the FCA
There are two communications that I’ve always found helpful and even more so since staring my role at FinTech Scotland.
The first is simply a weekly email that contains a summary of that weeks FCA news. Its a great way of seeing what the Regulator has published that week. It’s no more than one page (usually) and will include links to any consultation papers, policy papers, final notices, speeches etc. Its worth signing up for – try this link.
The second is the Regulation Round Up. Its published on a monthly basis, includes information that is relevant for all firms regardless of sector, size or business model. The January Edition can be accessed here and for those interested you can also sign up to receive the Regulation Round each month – regardless of whether or not you’re involved in an authorised or regulated business. Again – my view is – its worth signing up for!
As well as covering hot topics, the Regulation Round Up provides updates on ongoing FCA work, will often contain articles outlining the FCA’s view on an topic and will include relevant links to current consultations and other FCA papers that may be relevant to your business or future plans. It will also outline any FCA events that maybe relevant or useful for your business.
The January edition highlights that the FCA intends to carry out a survey of smaller firms on how FCA regulation specifically impacts them. This work will be completed by an independent consultancy – Kantar Public. If you’re contacted please support this initiative. Your feedback will be highly valuable.
It also mentions that the FCA will be holding two events in Edinburgh in March aimed at regulated firms working in general insurance or the retail investment market. You’ll find more detail through the January Edition link above as well as information on how to register for the events.
There is much more information in the round up and the final point I’ll reflect on here is that in this months edition it also covers the important topic of Preparing for Brexit!
Getting insight from the FCA
To help focus its work, the FCA has divided the financial system into seven sectors that it monitors on a continual basis. It develops a set of sector views that provide a way to bring its collective intelligence together and considers a wide range of factors that drive change across the financial system.
The sector views are published and made available on the FCA website and will also be used as the FCA shapes and develops its business plan – due later this year.
The latest set of sector views were published in January and can be accessed here
Consultation paper – Guidance on Cryptoassets
The FCA is consulting on Guidance on crypto assets. This work is to help businesses understand whether their crypto asset activities fall under regulation.
This consultation has the potential to apply to a wide range of businesses. If crypto assets is currently or may potentially to be part of your business in the future, or if you’re engaging or talking to consumers on this topic or marketing this type of product, please review this consultation and offer your feedback. Comments are required by Friday 5th of April and can be emailed to fcacrypto@fca.org.uk
As I sign out for now, a final reminder that the FCA’s project Innovate team is hosting an event in Edinburgh on the 31st of January. I look forward to seeing you there. Please come and say hello especially if we’ve not met yet.
All the best
Nicola
Challenges of Doing Business with Large Corporations: A Masterclass with GlobalScot John Fox
The prospect of working with a large organisation can be a somewhat daunting prospect. It brings a whole new set of questions, paperwork, considerations and regulations. It’s also an exciting opportunity for your company to grow and develop in both existing and potentially new markets.
This masterclass on the Challenges of Doing Business with Large Corporations’ draws on John’s insight of the culture of large US headquartered corporations from the perspective of the insider. If you are interested in ideas of how to differentiate your offering to US based business or how to navigate large corporate culture please join us on Wednesday 6th February at 10am at the Scottish Enterprise offices in Edinburgh. For more details or to register for the event please using this link.
John recently retired after a long successful career of 39 years with Johnson & Johnson; a multi-national corporation that in 2017 had a revenue of $74.65bn, ranked No. 37 on the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue and has over 130,000 employees worldwide. As Vice President of the Global Payroll for the entire group and in his previous role as Group CIO for Pharmaceuticals, John was responsible for administrative functions such as IT, finance and back office, including the payroll operations across 80 countries.
GlobalScots are members of a worldwide network of professionals who have built their reputations in the highest echelons of the international marketplace. Since 2001, they have been giving back to Scotland by donating their time and expertise for the benefit of Scotland’s future prosperity.
LendingCrowd in top 30 fast-growing tech startups – Interview with CEO Stuart Lunn
Stuart, well done on being named among the top 30 fast-growing tech startups to watch by Tech Nation. What do you think is the main thing that led to this recognition?
“Thank you! I think the Upscale team have recognised the progress we’ve made since we launched in late 2014, and potential we have to really take this business to the next level. It’s also great to see that 20% of the Upscale 4.0 cohort are fintech businesses.”
What does joining the 2019 cohort of Tech Nation’s Upscale 4.0 programme mean for LendingCrowd?
“This is further validation of our work in building a sustainable business capable of being scaled in a high-growth sector. We founded LendingCrowd to help bridge the funding gap facing so many small businesses, and the experience gained through Upscale and working with Tech Nation will be invaluable. We are proud to be based in Scotland, so it was pleasing to be selected as the only Scottish company to join this year’s Upscale programme. We hope this paves the way for more great Scottish businesses to be recognised.”
How is your firm transforming from being a start-up to being a scale-up business?
“Since our launch, we’ve always been focused on creating robust in-house infrastructure that can scale and underpin growth. This business is built on solid foundations of technology, financial services and regulatory experience, and we’ve proven the benefits of our business model in terms of enabling hundreds of SMEs to access the finance they need to grow. As we continue to bring in larger funds, we’re able to deliver higher levels of funding ”“ helping our borrowers create more jobs and generating real knock-on benefits for the economy.”
You on-boarded some very high profile collaborators last year on your board and in your marketing team. Are you planning on growing significantly more in 2019?
“We announced the appointment of Sir Sandy Crombie as our Chairman in November, and the following month Darren Cairns joined us as CMO. We hope to announce some more additions to the senior management team as we scale this year. In January alone, we’re advertising for seven roles on our careers page. Our team currently numbers 25 and I expect that figure will be close to 40 by the end of this year.”
What are your plans and objectives for 2019?
“To keep growing our investor and borrower base. We’ve now helped more than 570 businesses access over £50 million in funding, including more than £12 million in Scotland. As we attract more investors looking to make their money work harder, we’ll continue making a positive impact for our vital community of SMEs. We want to be the go-to company for Scottish SMEs that are being failed by traditional lenders.”
What’s your view on the future of P2P lending?
“We’ll see increasing levels of institutional money flowing in as the sector matures. Individual investors remain an important part of the mix, and I believe that financial advisers will increasingly recommend this market to their clients as an alternative to traditional savings and investments.”
Fortnightly FinTech Fuse ”“ Energised by FinTech Intimacy!
The intimacy of the fintech community and participants across Scotland has certainly given me an energised start to the year after the festive holiday.
Over the this first two weeks of 2019, the opportunity to engage and collaborate with the many people driving fintech innovation has enabled me to hit the ground running.
Coffee Shop Fintech Intimacy
And the many welcoming coffee shops across the country have been the venue of choice for the numerous meetings with inspiring fintech entrepreneurs during the last fortnight.
For example, this week it was brilliant to catch up with serial innovator Ross Laurie to hear about his new venture to reinvent part of the way financial services operates.
Scotland is the ideal home for launching Ross’s exciting initiative leveraging the open banking environment before taking to the rest of the financial world.
Open banking and data science are also being capitalized on by the engaging Adrian James (AJ) and his innovative Shoppa enterprise and we had much to talk through when we met last week.
In a short space of time AJ has developed a unique proposition that is going to have a positive impact on customer engagement financial services and beyond.
This will also be the case with Women’s Coin, a truly brilliant innovation which is going to have a world-wide impact in so many ways.
Wonderful to see the dynamic duo, Christine Bamford and Dr Jane Lewis, last week at one of our favourite coffee shops, Nomad.
We are delighted they are looking to develop their enterprise here in Scotland and become part of the diverse fintech community.
Then it was a late afternoon coffee with the magical MoneyMatiX team a few days ago, with the amazing Tynah Matembe and Helene Rodger.
Fantastic to see how their financial engagement prototype is developing and talk through the various take to market strategies.
This is just four examples amongst many others over this last two weeks of meetings at four very different types of coffee shops with Scotland’s diverse fintech enterprises.
Earlier this week the fintech intimacy moved away from the coffee shops to the offices of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for an engagement session with the fintech community.
It was great to having a very diverse group of the fintech community at the meeting and a massive thank you to Nicola Anderson, who is on a year long secondment from the FCA to FinTech Scotland, for putting on such an engaging event.
Many thanks also to Maggie Craig, Alan Drainer and Steven McWhirter for sharing their valuable regulatory insights and experiences.
I know there will be as much interest in the FCA Project Innovate event In Edinburgh on 31stJanuary.
This opportunity to have an intimate constructive engagement with the fintech community is something I am also looking forward to developing with the Scottish Government team leading on digital transformation.
Great to further develop these plans with Clare Mills and Carron Macnab from the Digital team this week along with Paul Gaffney from Hanya.
I’m really looking forward to the next stage of this initiative as it will demonstrate how the fintech community can play a constructive mutually beneficial role with a large organization such as the Government.
Big and Small FinTech Intimacy
This big and small fintech intimacy was the focus of the discussions with the very progressive and forward thinking team at Baillie Gifford.
It was great to meet up with Richard McGrail, Evan Delaney and Anurag Agrawal from Baillie Gifford to further develop how they can play an active role in shaping the fintech innovations being developed in Scotland.
This was also the theme of the discussion with Jackie Leiper of Lloyds Banking Group earlier this week as we explored the numerous ways in which to connect into the fintech community and innovative people developing the ideas for the future.
Derek Smith is leading some amazing initiatives at Lloyds demonstrating that big and small can develop a fintech intimacy.
This was even more apparent whilst in the Port Hamilton HQ as we bumped into the brilliant Manu Peleteiro, founder of the Inbest enterprise, which is helping make financial management accessible and inclusive to all.
Consumer inclusion was a key part of my update to the Financial Services Advisory Board (FiSAB) meeting on the second day back after the holidays last Tuesday
This was an opportunity for me to demonstrate how the growing fintech community can play a significant positive role from both a social perspective as well as economic outcomes.
Thank you to Scottish Government Ministers, Derek Mackay and Kate Forbes along with Jim Pettigrew of CYBG and Graeme Jones of the SFE for allowing me to celebrate FinTech Scotland first anniversary at the Board meeting.
Thanks also Shery for producing such a wonderful birthday cake to celebrate the occasion!
Our first anniversary has been well received in the global media over the last few days noting the various developments in Scotland over the last twelve months
Of course, on the ground, fintech innovation will only flourish if the big scale infrastructure is developed for the longer term
There is no one more inspiring to explain this than Keith O’Donnell of Morgan Stanley and it is hugely impressive to listen to Keith on this last week.
On a broader level, it was great to meet up with James King, the founder of Host in Scotland, and the always insightful Polly Purvis of Scotland IS and David Smith of Scottish Enterprise with John Trower and Graeme Malcolm to discuss the importance of data infrastructure for future innovations.
The role of data skills in driving fintech innovation was the focus of the conversation with Katriona Cunningham, Richard Matthews and Gordon Ritchie of Aviva last week as well.
It was great to have Michael Young and Rob Huggins of MBN Solutions with us to talk through their experiences of developing the data talent for the future.
University Fintech Intimacy
The fintech intimacy with the Universities across Scotland is something which has enormous potential in so many ways beyond the pure development of new young talent and skilled people.
This was reinforced to me this week in catching up with the fabulous Ellie Mackay from the Entrepreneurial Network team at the University of Strathclyde.
Very impressed on how Ellie and the team are engaging a diverse range of students on potential innovations as part of the fintech cluster development at the University.
Similarly, the potential development of new fintech enterprises through an accelerator programme at the University of Edinburgh with Gordon Donald and John Lonsdale of the Edinburgh Innovations team along Myron Hrycyk and Colin Carmichael of Sopra Steria.
Such an initiative will form an important part of the Edinburgh Futures Institute and it was good to catch up with Lesley McAra and Damien Mcgarrigle last week to discuss how fintech intimacy can have a very big role to play with new collaborations.
The fintech intimacy with the public sector opportunities and working with the CivTech programme is going to be key over the coming months.
This was also the discussion with the inspiring Glasgow School of Arts team, Irene McAra-Williams and Gordon Hush, this week as we considered how to progress the consumer inclusion initiatives further.
Later in the day we met up with Yvonne MacDermid and David at Money Advice Scotland to share the progress we are making and agree next steps in developing the intimacy with the range of fintech innovations to support their work.
The potential powerful impact that fintech could have on peoples lives was further recognized when catching up with Ewan Aitkin, the inspiring chief executive at the Cyrenians who deliver such amazing work.
Ewan and I first met over 35 years ago at university where we were both trying to positively change the world to be more progressive, a mission which we remain true to today albeit our tactics have changed slightly!
Enabling FinTech Intimacy
One of the exciting aspects about the fintech intimacy across Scotland is the numerous and diverse participants enabling innovation to flourish.
For example, it is great working with Mark Roger and his Vivolution team as the FinTech Scotland Network Integrator on a range of initiatives.
Developing the access and options for funding fintech enterprises is one such important area and this will be a key focus for our activity in 2019.
Furthermore, working alongside Graeme Rennison and the team at Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Investment Bank is valuable to ensure the fintech community can best leverage the range of product and services available.
There are many other active enabling participants, for example, on Monday in Glasgow it was really useful to catch up with Evelyn McDonald and Steven Hamill, who lead the Scottish Edge team, to discuss collaboration opportunities
We also enjoyed catching up with FinTech Scotland board member Yvonne Dunn, from our strategic partner Pinsent Mason, to discuss plans for the year and build on their fantastic fintech engagement last year.
A very full day in Glasgow finished off with a fascinating and constructive conversation with Nick Cousins, Mark Roger and Doug Morwood on enabling great fintech intimacy with large banks . Thanks Nick for progressing the opportunities on this.
I am hoping to leverage this Scotland strength of enabling fintech intimacy on a global scale in 2019
The first opportunity for this will be next week when I join Pat Kunz on SDI in Switzerland for a fintech trade mission along with Gavin Littlejohn and leaders from a number of market leading fintech firms.
Thank you to Manuela Andaloro for the catch up this week and guiding me through the presentations we will be giving next week in Zurich. More on this in the next Fuse blog in a fortnight.
Running Intimacy
I am hoping some of the Scottish fintech leaders joining me in Switzerland next week will join me on a few runs around the beautiful city of Zurich along the Limmat River and a full circuit of Lake Zurich!
Just now I’m up to running 50 miles a week and I need to keep the mileage high with the first marathon in early March fast approaching.
Ive been boosted by my first race of the year, a half marathon at Strathclyde Country Park on the first Sunday of January, which saw me take third place overall and a new trophy for the cabinet.
And yes, there were more than three people running the race!
Whilst I am keeping my feet on the ground, this is my best start to a running year in over four years and I am hoping to defy the physical challenges of getting older with a year of personal bests!
Of course, also planning for the best year yet’ in fintech too! Until next time
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The banking landscape of tomorrow
Blog written by Chris Herd, CEO and founder at Nexves
Today, fintech companies are innovating around existing products and services to create a better customer experience, tomorrow they will need to do far more. The first wave of challenger banks has amassed huge user numbers by doing little more than providing a more functional user interface, the next leap forward will come from enabling things which were previously impossible.
The future we imagine is akin to a Netflix of Financial services. Fintechs are on the brink of offering consumers a personalised menu of products instead of one-size-fits-all services.
As innovators and disruptors, we have a window of opportunity afforded to us by a unique confluence of circumstances.
The unlocked door to previously inaccessible data endows customers with the chance to receive insights into their spending habits which could save them a fortune.
The need to focus on the long term
Ultimately if companies like us do our job properly we’ll end up with a win-win situation. The value to the customers will be as a direct result of our ability to deliver simple products which people use and understand. The more money we keep in our users’ pockets, the higher they will value our services, the more they will trust us to deliver services which are of greater financial benefit. That won’t be achieved over night.
At Nexves, there are a number of key innovations that enable us to achieve things that no other company in the world can match. Mostly, this is through our ability to acquire a level of data which is exponentially more granular than our nearest competitors ”” enriching our intelligence and insights to an extent which was previously unimaginable.
How the world is changing
It is always essential to abreast of forthcoming technological developments and trends. They influence people and revolutionise the way we deal with finances.
Our 2018 reading list: https://hackernoon.com/a-cryptopunk-startup-founders-2018-reading-list-a52c7fb6bc0a]
- The internet as it currently exists will capitulate. The revenue model of advertising only will give way to a distributed model of digital taxation. This will take the form of metered-micropayments for all products, services or content you consume online ”” compensating creators equal to your engagement. Where industries have died, digital tokens will enable those things which acquire most attention to thrive. Cryptocurrency has been fascinating but we are currently in the replication phase ”” where people are trying to reinvent what currently exists ”” instead of doing things with blockchain and cryptocurrency which were previously impossible. We hope to imagine then deliver the latter.
- Peer to peer has been awesome for platform creators but terrible for gig economy workers. As Ubers Valuation has skyrocketed into the hundreds of Billions, rewards for drivers have plummeted. In short, the compensation for providing the service and maintaining the platforms are misaligned. This will change. Service providers will be rewarded with equity in the underlying business through new fractional ownership models. Every trip will equate to a higher stake of ownership. Drive more? Own more.
- Last mile delivery is about to explode. It’s relatively cheap to get a large volume of goods from one geographic location to another but It’s ridiculously expensive to get it from one place in that city to a large number of addresses. Look for there to be a number of VC backed players emerge in this space in the next 18 months. They will initially tie together D2C companies and their community, enabling those businesses to leverage the engagement of the crowd to let their customers benefit and lower delivery costs significantly. I guarantee a unicorn emerges in this domain by 2020.
- Crowdfunding is dead, long live crowdfunding. Investing in equity is prehistoric, consumer purchasing behaviour will become a new form of investing. Voting with your wallet will mean owning through your decisions. Buy something, own it, buy more, own more. Instead of purchasing stocks and shares, everyday consumers will accrue ownership of the futures most exciting companies through their existing purchasing behaviour. This means that the can of coke you are drinking would be a tiny fraction of equity in the business, equally the chocolate bar in your pocket or the soap in your bathroom. Wealth will be redistributed. Where in the past the only beneficiaries of our actions were the shareholders in the business which produced the things we consume ”” there will be a mass reaction against this. Technology will enable a swarm of individuals to cohesively act as one for mutual economic benefit. This will give rise to co-operatively owned brands which produce a vast number of the things we consume. People will be incentivised to act as selfishly as possible, benefitting everyone who does so as well.
New solutions needed
That is the world in which we see Nexves playing a central part. In order to participate in this cyclical economy, we need a digital passport which collects our data, protects it, lets you monetise it while enabling the payments alluded to above. We need a mechanism which enables us to hold the equity we earn through our behaviour and access markets to cash out when we desire. We layer on top of any existing bank account and will be the thing which facilitates participation
Strong opinions weakly held is the worst advice we’ve ever heard. Things that are weakly held are cheaply discarded and doing this leads to uncertainty. Instead, continuously challenging the things we believe ”” either destroying or improving them ”” is the framework we operate within. Candour is the most efficient vehicles which enable us to discover things as a startup and challenge conventionally held belief or the dogma which holds others back.
Fortnightly FinTech Fuse ”“ A Festive FinTech for All
With the holiday period fast approaching this last two weeks has certainly been a festive fintech fortnight and there has been much to bring us Christmas cheer.
Such as some terrific announcements of innovative collaborations being led from Scotland’s fintech community with a broad spectrum of large organisations.
For example, Castlight Financials exciting development with Big Issue Invest with their world leading affordability tool, then there is Money Dashboard’s ground breaking collaboration with Go Compare.
Other examples include CU Soar new major partnership for a digital platform with Glasgow Credit Union to engage with their 46,000 customers and Wallet Services strategic blockchain innovation with Baillie Gifford.
Festive Awards
Therefore, it was no surprise that fintech firms from Scotland are being recognized through numerous awards.
For example, well done to the Previse team for recognition at the Finastra Universe awards event for their best in class innovative technology addressing slow payments.
Then at the Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA) Summit last Thursday, the Scottish fintech community scooped up the majority of the highly acclaimed awards.
Big congratulations to the Castlight Financial, Money Dashboard and The ID Co teams for this fantastic recognition which very much highlights their amazing work in improving consumer engagement with financial services.
The recognition from these and other awards for the fintech community is raising awareness amongst the international investment players on the innovative developments across Scotland.
It was good to share these examples of Scottish firms with Vishal Patel of the fintech investor Anthemis this week and looking forward to developing this further in the new year.
The FDATA Global Open Finance Summit over the two days either side of their big award evening was an awesome event in so many ways.
Held at the iconic the University of Edinburgh McEwan Hall, over two hundred people gathered to share latest innovative developments in the world of open banking.
This was a truly international event with entrepreneurs, investors, regulators and major institutions from every corner of the world meeting in Edinburgh to shape the future.
Congratulations must go to the brilliant host Andy McIver, the fabulous FDATA and Message Matters teams, the event crew as well as to the many insightful and thought provoking speakers.
The Summit was great opportunity to catch up with long standing friends such as Brian Costello and make new acquaintances from around the world.
The upmost respect and accolade to Gavin Littlejohn who expertly led the event and inspired the diverse group of people on how open finance can positively change the world, especially as Gavin had only two hours sleep over the 48 hours!
Festive Energy
There was plenty of festive energy at the wonderful fintechmas’ get together at Tontine, Glasgow on Tuesday evening as the fintech community came together to toast 2018 and enter the Christmas spirit.
Organised by John McHugh, one of the most motivating and inspiring fintech entrepreneurs on the planet, and hosted by the super team of Alison, Alex and Harry from the Gigly and Adlantic as well as Pauline and Ewan from Tontine.
Many thanks to fintech friends Hamish, Will and Katrina from the terrific media group FutureScot for their generous support with beer and pizza.
To my surprise I ended up doing a fintech state of the nation’ presentation with a Father Christmas hat on just to add to the fintechmas’ feelgood factor!
Prior to the event it was great to talk through opportunities with Dino and Zoe from Bifrost for their exciting wealth management platform.
Earlier that day Nicola and I also met up with Rod Ashley who is setting a new innovative bank which we are looking forward to supporting in 2019 as part of the fintech community.
Edinburgh held its own fintechmas’ get together the week before and it was fantastic to welcome a number of new fintech entrepreneurs to the community meet up as well as those who have been coming along from when Fintech Scotland started at the beginning of the year.
I must say a big thank you to Shery for making everything come together to make these fintech meet ups a success, Shery you are a fintech star and we’d be lost without your positive energy.
Earlier on in the day on Tuesday last week there was a lot of positive energy at the CanDo Innovation Forum.
It was really enjoyable to join the inspiring Irene McAra-Williams, director of the Glasgow School of Arts in sharing details of our proposed consumer inclusion initiative with the Forum.
This fintech consumer initiative was also top of our agenda for the meeting with Yvonne MacDermid and David from Money Advice Scotland, who do such valuable work across communities and where fintech innovation could play a growing role.
More to come on this early next year and it was also a key theme for the Fintech Scotland board meeting last Monday along with considering the fintech strategy for Scotland beyond 2020.
This conversation continued in the bar for a few joyful festive drinks afterwards to say thank you to the Board members for their valuable strategic insights throughout 2018.
Strategic considerations were very much on the agenda at the inaugural City Deal Regional Enterprise Council meeting last Friday, expertly chaired by Leeann Dempster.
I’m delighted to be invited to join this Council with its diverse group of people to consider the significant strategic investments in the region for the decade ahead.
Fintech collaboration and inclusion can very much play a big part in this, especially in the field of data driven innovation.
At the end of the meeting what a fabulous surprise to talk with fellow Council member Ewan Aitkin and be reminded that our paths crossed more than thirty five years ago at university!
Looking forward to catching up with Ewan in the new year to reminisce about those tough times in the early 1980’s and using the lessons and spirit from those days in today’s world.
Festive Spirit
On Tuesday this week we popped into to see the fantastic Michael Young and Rob Huggins of MBN Solutions who have given FinTech Scotland terrific support throughout 2018 in connecting talent into the world of fintech in Scotland.
Their office was very much in festive spirit and it was wonderful to see how their Christmas appeal will be reaching many children in Glasgow in the days ahead. Brilliant leadership by the Georgia Boyle and the team.
Later that day it was wonderful to catch up with the engaging Angela Pignatelli and Jim Mcallister of West College Scotland to hear about their plans to develop fintech skills in 2019 which we are very excited to support.
A few days before I had the opportunity to catch up with Iain Shirlaw to hear about the great progress with the Fife FinTech Skills Academy and how the fintech community are driving this forward with Fife College.
The topic of people skills dominated the CBI Financial Services breakfast meeting on Thursday and it was great to hear insights from Alison McGregor of HSBC, David Skinn of Aviva and the Scottish Government Minister Ivan Mckee.
Thank you to Tracy Black, Flora Hamilton and Henrietta Jowitt for an engaging event and the opportunity for me to share the examples fintech skills developments in Fife and West Scotland.
Highlighting the fintech people skills opportunities was also a key focus for my catch up with Michael Dickson of FWB Park Brown as we considered an exciting event for 2019.
Then also looking forward to 2019, it was great to meet up with Olga Kozlova of University of Strathclyde and see the new FinTech Scotland Glasgow base in the amazing Technology & Innovation Centre.
Another fintech collaboration I’m looking forward to further progress in 2019 is with the Scottish Government digital transformation team, especially in the area of payments
Great updates from Trish Quinn, Hugh Wallace, Alex Bunch and Martin Sansome at the Steering Board and catch up with Clare Mills along with the team from Hanya, Angela Porte, Paul Gaffney and Martin Ewart.
On a broader digital perspective, it was really interesting to join Rab Campbell, Colin Cook and other distinguished members of the Audit Scotland Digital Advisory Board last week to share insights.
Looking forward to collaborating with Gemma Diamond and Veronica Cameron on this in 2019.
Festive Collaboration
Festive collaboration was very much in the air at the Marketing Edinburgh Christmas get together on Thursday evening.
Absolutely inspiring speeches by chair Gordon Robertson and chief executive John Donnelly all wonderfully hosted at the beautiful Balmoral (many thanks Frances Maurer).
The Marketing Edinburgh team have once again delivered world class achievements for the region in 2018 under the awesome stewardship of John Donnelly which benefits the whole economy.
The event was a chance to catch up with a number of people who have given Marketing Edinburgh and FinTech Scotland such valuable support in 2019 such as the fabulous Rory Archibald of Visit Scotland who is helping us plan for the next fintech festival in the Autumn.
Earlier in the week we caught up with Ray Bugg and Pete Swift of Digit to also start planning the fintech profile and activities for 2019, always great to be working with these guys as we look to put fintech even more on the global map.
On a more specific note, very excited about the growing fintech collaboration between University of Edinburgh, Sopra Steria and Fintech Scotland following some great conversations last week.
This is another exciting area to be progressing with the engaging Craig Wilson, Myron Hrycyk and Colin Carmichael from Sopra Steria in developing emerging fintech innovations.
Festive collaboration opportunities were also on the table along with homemade mince pies for the session with the IBM team on Wednesday.
A constructive conversation with IBM’s Simon Pink, Michael Mauchline and another good friend from the past Mairi Cairney as well as Mark Roger from Vivolution
The collaboration opportunities continue to develop on the global stage too with a valuable catch ups with leading Scottish Development International leading lights Pat Kunz from Switzerland and Alexandra Mulcahy from Germany.
I am very much looking forward to my visits with various firms from the Scottish fintech community to Europe in the early part of 2019 to develop the opportunities further.
Our very good friend, Triinu Hansen of FDATA will be returning home to Estonia at the weekend and although we will very much miss Triinu we know we also have a new fintech ambassador in this lovely part of Eastern Europe.
Scotland continues to be very much part of the Europe.
This has been highlighted in our global fintech work with Kent Mackenzie and the team at Deloitte who have provided really valuable expertise and insights on where to focus our efforts in Europe and worldwide.
These global collaboration ambitions are also shared by the Ethical Finance Hub team based at Heriot Watt University and it was brilliant to share plans with Omar Shaikh and Chris Tait this week.
Similarly, it was fantastic to meet up with Jock Encombe this Thursday to talk through the mutually shared objectives of the Well Being Economy Alliance and Fintech Scotland alongside Edinburgh Futures Institute.
Very excited about the joint innovation initiative for the Spring of 2019 to demonstrate global leadership on reinventing financial services and the wider economy.
Before then we will take some time away over the festive period to recharge the batteries and reflect on the next stage of the Fintech Scotland journey.
Finally, I must finish this last blog of 2018 with a very special thank you for Mickael, Shery and Nicola who have made this a very special fintech year in so many ways.
They have very much put their heart and soul into FinTech Scotland’s drive for innovation, collaboration and inclusion and the journey has been amazing.
Festive Running
We will close for the festive break on Wednesday 19th December and return for our FinTech Scotland one year birthday on 8th January 2019.
In the meantime, I will have time to do plenty of festive running around the wonderful roads and trails of Edinburgh.
And I am in buoyant running mood after completing the challenging Pentland Hills Seven Reservoir half marathon and the Magnificent Water of Leith half marathon in the last two weekends.
This holiday I’ll be running everywhere from the Leith Waterfront to Arthurs Seat and across the Forth Bridge to Fife, so many places to enjoy.
My festive running will start with Parkrun this Saturday down at Crammond, a place where our diverse community come together to share a common love of running, always so uplifting.
I’m hoping Scotland’s fintech can emulate the Parkrun pride, passion and community inclusiveness as we continue the journey in 2019.
Until then, wishing you all peace and well being for the holiday period.