FinTech Scotland Festival 2026: Innovation fuelling growth

FinTech Scotland has today announced that the ninth FinTech Scotland Festival will take place from 30 September to 7 October 2026, with in-person and online events across the central belt of Scotland.

The Festival will bring together international industry leaders, entrepreneurs, policymakers, investors, innovators and academics from across the UK and beyond; to discuss how Scottish fintech innovation drives growth, job creation and global competitiveness. It will explore the future of financial services, spotlight the achievements of Scotland’s fintech cluster and spark new partnerships, with a strong emphasis on innovation fueling growth through delivering solutions to real world problems.

This year, the Festival will focus on AI adoption, quantum technology in financial services, financial regulation innovation, digital trust, women in fintech and growing fintechs. Events will connect members of the FinTech Scotland community, building further on the uniquely collaborative ecosystem.

The Festival’s opening day will include an invitation-only reception hosted by Lloyds Banking Group at their Edinburgh Headquarters and the week will conclude with DIGIT’s prestigious Scottish Financial Technology Awards, recognising and celebrating excellence across Scotland’s fintech community.

Organisations are also invited to run their own in‑person, online or hybrid fringe events during the week, that will be promoted alongside the main programme.

Building on the success of last year’s Festival, which attracted attendees from around the world, the FinTech Scotland Festival 2026 is the key event in the Scottish fintech calendar.

Aleks Tomczyk, Chief Executive at FinTech Scotland, said:
“Fintech is delivering real benefits for businesses, the public sector, our economy and society. The Festival is a celebration of the remarkable progress and innovation that is taking place in the fintech sector. The Festival is a recognition of the sector’s intent to do and grow more.”

Derek Shanks, Technology Platform Lead at Lloyds Banking Group, added:
“The FinTech Scotland Festival is a key event in the financial services calendar in Scotland, so we are delighted to be hosting the launch reception, which sets the stage for a week of innovation, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing.”

Kristen Bennie, Group Head of Innovation and Partnerships at Barclays, said, “Scotland is a vital technology and innovation hub for Barclays and we’re proud to support the FinTech Scotland Festival. By bringing together innovators, industry leaders and emerging talent, we’re helping foster the ideas and skills that will shape the future of financial services.”

Ann Devine, Partner at KPMG, said:
“KPMG are delighted to be launching our Women in Fintech group in Scotland at this year’s Festival. It is essential that we support the many great women who are driving progress and innovation in the sector here. I’m looking forward to the engagement and growth that these conversations will spark – now and into the future.”

David Tuck, CEO at Waracle, added:
“The FinTech Scotland Festival programme strikes a great balance between specialist sessions and broader discussions, making it an ideal platform for knowledge sharing, learning, and networking. As one of Scotland’s fastest-growing consultancies supporting financial services clients and scaling fintechs, we are delighted to contribute and be an active part of the community.”

Pardeep Cassells, Chief Client Officer at AccessFintech, concluded:
“Scotland is a great place to be a growing fintech with many compelling reasons to start, locate and grow a business here. We are really looking forward to the Festival events and networking with the people that comprise the depth of talent and make the community what it is.”

Find out more about the FinTech Scotland Festival 2026, propose a fringe event and sign up here.

Aveni extends market leading wealth and compliance platform into consumer agentic AI for financial services

£12m investment accelerates launch of Agent Assure, closing the AI agent safety gap

Aveni, the UK’s leading AI fintech specialist in wealth management, financial advice and banking, today announced a £12 million funding round led by PXN Ventures, the UK’s fastest-growing venture and investments firm outside London and the South East, and supported by existing investors Puma Growth Partners, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and Scottish Enterprise. The investment will accelerate development of Aveni’s Unified Assurance Platform (UAP) and the launch of its new Agent Assure and Agent Approve solutions, purpose-built to assess the conduct risk of AI agents that interact with consumers in financial services.

Aveni is the established market leader in AI adoption across UK wealth and banking, with over seven years of live deployments and product development. Its products Aveni Assist, an AI productivity solution for advisers and operations teams, and Aveni Detect, its AI compliance monitoring tool, are deployed across the UK’s leading banks, wealth managers and financial advisers. Underpinning both is FinLLM, Aveni’s proprietary suite of specialist small language models built for and utilising UK financial services data.

Agentic AI adoption in financial services is accelerating, but deployment at scale is being held back by a critical gap in assurance. With just 2% of firms reporting adequate AI guardrails, the absence of robust, regulated oversight for AI agents that interact directly with consumers is the number one challenge for the industry. Regulators are clear that the mode of engagement, human or machine, is secondary to consumer outcomes, which must be assessed consistently across all interactions.

Agent Assure directly addresses this gap. A natural extension of the Aveni Detect proposition, it enables firms to monitor and manage the conduct risk of AI agents alongside human interactions, in a single unified view. Together with Aveni Assist, Aveni Detect and the new Agent Approve solution, this Assure forms the Unified Assurance Platform: the financial service industry’s first comprehensive framework for assuring both human and agent interactions with consumers at scale.

Aveni is a participant in the FCA’s Supercharged Sandbox programme and has established the Agent Assurance Expert Council to support development of responsible AI governance frameworks. The company is working directly with regulators and industry bodies to shape the emerging standards for AI in financial services.

Two men and a woman standing in Victoria Street, Edinburgh — Aveni.ai founders Joseph Twigg, CEO; Jamie Hunter, COO; and Professor Lexi Birch, Chief Scientist

Joseph Twigg, CEO of Aveni, said: “The continued confidence shown by our existing investors is a powerful endorsement of the direction we’re taking. We have spent seven years building the models, the experience and the regulatory relationships that make us uniquely qualified to solve the hardest problem in AI adoption right now: how do you assure the conduct of an AI agent interacting with a real consumer? Agent Assure is our answer — and this investment accelerates our ability to deliver our full platform at scale.”

Alastair Moore at PXN Ventures, said: “Aveni is fast becoming financial advisers’ go-to tool for helping them leverage AI in a safe and appropriate way. The team now has seven years of live deployments and proprietary models built within the UK financial services sector. Their infrastructure is answering one of the biggest questions in AI adoption: how to manage real client interactions and build trust, so advisers can focus on what they do best. We’re proud to support Aveni through multiple PXN funds, including the Praetura Growth VCT, as they continue their growth journey and demonstrate the world-class fintech capabilities of the North of the UK.”

Ben Leslie, Investment Director, Puma Growth Partners, commented: “The impact Aveni is making in deploying AI into UK financial services is already significant, and we continue to see a substantial growth opportunity ahead. With agentic AI adoption accelerating and regulators rightly focused on consistent consumer outcomes, robust assurance for AI agents is rapidly becoming a core requirement for the sector. As a standout example of Scotland’s growing strength as a technology hub, Aveni is well placed to lead this next phase. We are delighted to invest again from our Scotland office to support Joseph, Jamie, Professor Lexi Birch and the wider team as they scale the Unified Assurance Platform and launch Agent Assure.”

Kirsty Rutter, Fintech Investment Director at Lloyds Banking Group, said: “Agentic AI represents a significant opportunity for financial services to enhance customer experience through more personalised interactions. Aveni is helping firms adopt this technology in a safe and responsible way. We’re pleased to continue supporting Aveni’s ongoing development through investment and partnership.”

The continued backing of existing investors reflects confidence in Aveni’s roadmap and market position. PXN Ventures led the round alongside Puma Growth Partners, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and Scottish Enterprise.

Scotland invests £3.18m to fast‑track fintech growth, jobs and collaborative innovation

Funding backs a Scottish programme turning strengths into real‑world impact

The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), the UK’s centre of excellence for innovation in technology to efficiently meet financial regulation requirements, has secured £3.18 million from Scottish Enterprise to deliver three years of the award-winning programme. The funding will deepen collaboration amongst academia, industry and regulators, and further accelerate the adoption of responsible technology-driven innovation in financial services, supporting the sector’s competitiveness and that of the economy.

Led by FinTech Scotland in partnership with the University of Strathclyde, FRIL will accelerate the adoption of new solutions enabling fairer financial futures and supporting technology innovators to scale their businesses.

The types of industry regulatory challenges that FRIL will address include:

ensuring AI is adopted by providers in a way that is responsible and explainable to ensure fair financial outcomes for businesses and consumers;
finding solutions that strengthen the effectiveness, integrity and efficiency of financial crime controls.

Agile prioritisation during the programme will address industry needs and emerging regulations around the use of AI, open data and digital assets. By uniting industry, academia, technology innovators, government and regulators, FRIL will turn shared insight into products, partnerships, investment and real‑world adoption.

To date, FRIL has successfully supported 120 fintech SMEs to accelerate solutions, enabled £28 million in committed private investment and delivered a projected 6:1 economic return on investment for every £1 of public funding.

Jane Martin, Managing Director Innovation and Investment, Scottish Enterprise, said: “FRIL is a shining example of how collaboration between industry, academia and regulators can make a real impact, utilising the development of advanced technologies to create high‑value jobs and attract private investment.

This funding underscores our commitment to fintech innovation and our support for innovative businesses, helping them to scale with confidence and build the global competitiveness of Scotland’s financial services sector.”

Aleks Tomczyk, Chief Executive, FinTech Scotland, added: “The opportunity from the current and forecast future growth of fintech is huge. We are proud of FRIL’s impact to date. FRIL’s success evidences the strategic value of innovation to the economy and the strength of our fintech cluster in simultaneously delivering growth and better outcomes for consumers. Scottish Enterprise’s investment will use FinTech Scotland’s proven Innovation Labs model to accelerate innovation in large companies and speed growth in fintechs.”

Professor Eleanor Shaw, University of Strathclyde, stated:“We are delighted to be a partner again in delivery of FRIL phase 3. Continuing our triple helix partnership approach ensures we can deliver on our mission to drive positive impact through useful research, learning, and innovation. This approach has so far demonstrated its success in delivering for Glasgow City Region, and we are excited about supporting this to become a national programme.”

Derek Shanks, Technology Platform Lead, Lloyds Banking Group, commented: “We’ve supported three FRIL innovation calls as a challenge partner and have seen first-hand the value of this model. It brings together the right mix of expertise, technology and challenge to turn ideas into real solutions. We welcome Scottish Enterprise’s investment and look forward to building on this partnership over the next three years.”

Calum Murray, CEO and Founder, Amiqus, noted:“The potential impact delivered by FRIL over the next three years to the broader Ecosystem is enormous. Thanks to a previous FRIL financial crime innovation call, we were able to build, pilot and take to production new capability to directly support Virgin Money with their new business onboarding journeys.

This three-year commitment effectively sets the stage for collaborative and rapid progress across both financial services developing new capabilities with the support of a wide range of fintechs going forward. It’s a win win on all accounts.”

Benefits reliance rising in every region of Great Britain, new financial data shows

Smart Data Foundry launches new Benefits Reliance Indicator using transactional data from 5 million bank accounts

Smart Data Foundry has launched a new data indicator designed to help policymakers, local authorities and researchers better understand where people may be coming under increasing financial pressure.

The new Benefits Reliance Indicator, available through their map-based Economic Wellbeing Explorer uses aggregated anonymised transactional data from NatWest. This data covers five million consumer current accounts across Great Britain and highlights areas where benefits from Universal Credit, Housing Credit and Tax Credits constitute 20% or more of people’s incomes.

The launch comes at a time of continued cost-of-living pressure, with the Food and Drink Federation forecasting food inflation could reach up to 10% by the end of 2026 and the energy price cap expected to rise again this summer, local authorities face growing pressure to target support effectively. At the same time. Department for Work and Pensions statistics show that more than a third of people (32%) receiving Universal Credit are in work, underlining the growing role benefits play in supplementing low or variable incomes.

Unlike traditional survey-based datasets, the Benefits Reliance Indicator provides a near-real-time view of how people’s income composition changes month-to-month. The indicator measures the proportion of people in a local area for whom means-tested benefits account for 20% or more of total income. This threshold was developed in consultation with local authority stakeholders as a meaningful signal of financial vulnerability.

The data combines income from Universal Credit, Housing Credit and Tax Credit with earnings, pensions and other income sources to provide a fuller picture of financial wellbeing – and where communities may be more exposed to labour market changes and welfare policy reforms.

Data to 29 March 2026 reveals:

A rising proportion of people across England, Scotland and Wales relying on benefits for at least 20% of their income. This has been rising for the last two years. Scotland has seen the biggest increase, at 1.83% over the past 2 years, with benefits reliance in Wales increasing by 1.7% and in England by 1.25%.
There are strong regional variations within England, Scotland and Wales:
- Wales has the overall highest rate of benefits reliance, with South East Wales at 9.36% – an increase of 2.11 percentage points over the last two years. Whilst North Wales has the lowest proportion at 6.64%, it has also seen a rise in benefits reliance over the last 2 years, as has Mid and South-West Wales – rising from 6.05% in March 2024 to 7.59% in March 2026.
- In Scotland, overall reliance is lower than in Wales and whilst there is an upward trend, it is much less steep. However, in recent months Eastern Scotland has seen a rise of 4.82 percentage points to 7.37% of our sample in that region with incomes consisting of 20% or more from Universal Credit, Housing Credit and Tax Credit. West Central Scotland has seen a similar rise, with a 2.42 percentage pointincrease over two years and 8.38% of our sample now showing benefits reliance. North East Central and the Highlands and Islands have shown the smallest increases, both under 1 percentage point.
- In the North of England, the area with the highest rate of benefits reliance is North East England, at 9.49% of our sample. North East England is also the region with the biggest growth (1.6 percentage points), followed by Yorkshire and the Humber (1.51 percentage points and North West England (1.42 percentage points).
- In the South of England, benefits reliance becomes less prevalent; the South East has the lowest proportion at 4.85%, but similarly to Scotland and Wales all English regions are seeing a growing reliance on benefits. London is an outlier in the south, with 7.75% of our sample showing benefits reliance.

The new indicator has been developed to help organisations identify emerging hardship earlier, target support more effectively and monitor the impact of welfare reforms, labour market changes and wider economic shocks. It will be updated monthly, and can also be filtered by age group and income range.

Dougie Robb, DEO of Smart Data Foundry added “Too often, financial hardship only becomes visible once people reach crisis point. By showing where people’s incomes are supplemented by means-tested benefits in near real time, we can better understand the role these benefits play in supporting people’s living standards – and where financial vulnerability is building.

“That means organisations can better understand changing economic conditions and target support where it may be needed most, as well as evaluate policy changes much more quickly.”

The Benefits Reliance Indicator is available to all users of the Economic Wellbeing Explorer, alongside a companion aggregated research dataset in Smart Data Foundry’s secure research environment, MyFoundry. The Economic Wellbeing Explorer is free to access at national and regional level, with local-level data available on subscription. Organisations interested in understanding benefits reliance within their own local authority area can request a personalised walkthrough of the data and platform.

To support the launch, Smart Data Foundry will host a webinar on 26 May 2026 exploring the new indicator, emerging trends and practical applications for targeting interventions and tackling poverty.

Atos UK&I joins FinTech Scotland as Strategic Partner to accelerate AI‑led fintech innovation and growth

FinTech Scotland today announced that Atos, a global leader of AI-powered digital transformation, has joined the Scottish fintech cluster as a Technology Strategic Partner, strengthening the cluster’s ability to drive collaborative innovation and growth.

Atos brings global scale with a strong UK presence to help create the conditions for faster innovation, secure scaling and economic impact across Scotland’s fintech community. Experts in Agentic AI, digital sovereignty and cybersecurity with a 60,000‑strong team worldwide, Atos provides end‑to‑end digital expertise across consulting, infrastructure, operations and optimisation, as well as integrated services across cloud, application services, smart platforms and the digital workplace.

This partnership strengthens the cluster’s momentum and the shared commitment to collaborative innovation that will shape the future of next-generation financial services. It takes our network to 37 Strategic Partners, building a world-class environment for fintech innovation and regional growth, at a time when Scotland’s fintech cluster has more than doubled in five years, from just over 120 firms in 2020 to more than 260 today, reinforcing its position as one of Europe’s most dynamic and collaborative fintech clusters.

Aleks Tomczyk, Chief Executive at FinTech Scotland, said: “This partnership with Atos strengthens our shared commitment to fostering innovation, collaboration and growth across Scotland’s fintech cluster. By bringing deep expertise in AI, data, secure cloud and digital platforms, alongside a strong global presence, Atos will enhance the support available to fintechs as they develop new solutions and build resilience, contributing to Scotland’s economic and societal progress.”

Simon Chandler, Head of Financial Services and Insurance, UK & Ireland at Atos said: “Atos is delighted to join FinTech Scotland to cement our investment in Financial Services in Scotland. We are excited to work in collaboration with the; FinTech SME community, Financial Services organisations, regulators, universities, and government by leveraging our leading Sovereign Agentic AI, Data, cloud and digital global expertise, underpinned by our unique Sustainability and Social Value commitments. We aim to drive Shared Value success for every part of this community to the betterment of this community and Scotland as a whole.”

The Tipton selects docStribute® to modernise member communications

docStribute® and the Tipton & Coseley Building Society partner to improve the firm’s communications and strengthen member engagement

docStribute®, a UK RegTech company specialising in regulated customer communications, today announces a strategic partnership with the Tipton & Coseley Building Society.

The partnership reflects the Tipton’s continued focus on personalised service, deepening member engagement and meeting the requirements of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Consumer Duty.

A key priority for the Tipton is accelerating digital transformation, with the partnership forming part of a multi-year change programme to expand online services, enhance systems and create better retail and working environments.

Through the docStribute® platform, the Society wants to move towards an electronic-first approach for both regulated and general communications. It aims to reduce delivery costs, process important documents more quickly, and use less paper, thereby lowering the associated carbon emissions.

Beyond cost, efficiency and environmental gains, the partnership will help the Tipton in repositioning its regulated documents, so they are not just a compliance requirement, but an opportunity to engage with members.

By presenting information in a clearer, more accessible digital format for those who want it, the Tipton can build greater awareness and understanding within its membership. This in turn supports well informed financial decisions, in line with Consumer Duty expectations.

docStribute® enables the delivery of timely, relevant communications which are easier to access, read, and navigate. The result is improved engagement and measurable insight into how members interact with information, allowing the Tipton to continuously improve clarity and outcomes.

Central to this approach is docStribute’s AIDA, the Artificial Intelligent Document Assistant. Developed through docStribute’s participation in FinTech Scotland’s Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), it enables recipients to interact with regulated documents in a conversational way, helping them navigate complex information, ask questions, and receive clear explanations in real time.

The platform can also incorporate supportive formats such as short video and enhanced visual layers to aid accessibility and comprehension. Together, these tools support financial literacy and stronger understanding, while ensuring communications remain compliant and appropriately governed.

The platform uses Distributed Ledger Technology to protect the integrity of customer documents and create a verifiable record of what information was sent and when. This ensures communications remain secure, accessible, and compliant with the FCA’s Durable Medium requirements, while providing the sender with greater visibility of engagement and understanding.

Chris Ansara, CEO of docStribute®, said:

“We are pleased to be working with The Tipton & Coseley Building Society. Building societies have always been rooted in trust and community. Our role is to help turn regulated communications into moments that strengthen that trust by making important information clearer and easier to engage with.

“With AIDA, and enhanced formats such as video, we are adding another layer that actively supports member understanding, not just delivery. This partnership brings our total building society partners to four and highlights the sector’s continued emphasis on improving customer understanding through stronger engagement.”

Richard Groom, Chief Customer Officer at the Tipton, added:

“We are focused on increasing the proportion of compliant digital communications we send as this brings multiple benefits to our business and members alike. Adopting an electronic-first approach, in line with members’ preferences, is another step towards modernising our Society and will improve the overall standard of service we offer.”

Financial Regulation Innovation Lab awards £50,000 each to four fintechs to accelerate consumer wealth support

The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL) today announced the four fintechs selected to receive grants through its latest Future of Wealth Innovation Call, delivered by FinTech Scotland in partnership with SuperTech WM.

The six‑week programme concluded on 15 January with a Showcase Day, where 21 fintechs presented solutions to the challenge: helping consumers make informed financial decisions and access more tailored wealth support, while keeping pace with evolving regulation.

Throughout the programme, and against the backdrop of the joint HM Treasury-Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Advice Guidance Boundary Review (AGBR) which seeks to help close the UK’s advice gap by clarifying how firms can provide more meaningful support under the Consumer Duty, participants took part in workshops and deep dive sessions to develop, refine and tailor their propositions to real world industry needs and potential pilots with partners. The FCA was involved throughout and provided both valuable clarity and guidance.

The Innovation Call was delivered with the support of 10 strategic partners: PwC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Sopra Steria Financial Services, NatWest Group, M&G, BNP Paribas Personal Finance. , Dudley Building Society, Wesleyan and Standard Life; alongside academic partners at the University of Strathclyde and the University of Glasgow, and Growth Builders, which supported delivery.

Following the Showcase Day, four fintechs were selected to receive £50,000 each to further develop their solutions. Over the grant period, the awardees will continue to collaborate with industry and academic partners to test, validate and accelerate their innovations towards adoption and scale.

The winners are:

Finspector is an AI-powered compliance platform that automates the review and monitoring of financial promotions across text, images, video, and social media. It helps regulated firms reduce risk, evidence compliance, and scale marketing activity with confidence across jurisdictions.

Planda is a behavioural AI platform that helps financial services firms move beyond outdated segmentation to deliver hyper-personalised customer engagement. By connecting data across enterprise workflows, Planda builds dynamic customer segments that evolve in real-time, enabling institutions to personalise at scale and deepen relationships.

Amplified Global uses AI and Machine Learning to help firms assess, simplify, and demonstrate consumer understanding at scale, ensuring they meet compliance obligations with confidence. Its technology analyses and enhances intelligibility, helping organisations turn complexity into clarity. Through a guided digital journey, it makes content more engaging, measurable, and human – redefining how people connect with information.

Afternoon’s the new data + AI first operating model for advice firms. Data collection is automated with a focus on completeness and quality. AI modules automate work, allowing a doubling of clients with the same team and with less risk from meeting to report in under 2 minutes.

Aleks Tomczyk, Chief Executive, FinTech Scotland, commented:

“The Advice Guidance Boundary Review is pivotal to widening access to meaningful financial support across the UK. Too few people are saving adequately for retirement, and historically advice has skewed towards higher earners. Government, regulators and industry are aligned on helping the wider population make better‑informed financial decisions. By funding these four winning projects and opening real‑world pilots with partners, we’re accelerating practical solutions that improve consumer decision‑making and access to support, while helping firms operate confidently within the advice–guidance boundary.”

Kate Murray, Strategic Projects Lead, Scottish Widows & Lloyds Banking Group, said:

“We want to fill the advice gap that currently exists in Britain and ultimately, enable people to have a much more prosperous financial future. The Innovation Calls present such a massive opportunity. We at Lloyds Banking Group are changing the way we do change and innovate to go faster. Bringing in outside thinking, technology, and just a completely different perspective can help us achieve that.”

Hilary Smyth Allen, Chief Executive, SuperTech WM, added:

“Partnership matters because that’s how you really get things done with impact. Through the partnership with FRIL, we’ve been able to work across a broader spectrum of the ecosystem. Consumers come in all shapes and sizes, and so does the industry that services them. Innovation for us means we are maximising outcomes for those consumers.”

Crawford Taylor, CEO & co-founder, Afternoon Finance, stated:

“The advice gap is real, and firms are under growing pressure to support more people, with better outcomes, under tighter regulation. Afternoon exists to make that possible, using data and AI to remove friction, reduce risk and radically improve how advice is delivered.

This funding allows us to continue to accelerate our mission: helping advice firms support more clients, more effectively, without compromising quality, compliance or trust. Being selected as one of just four winners from over twenty fintechs is a huge validation of the approach we’re taking.”

About FRIL

The project is part of the Glasgow City Region Innovation Accelerator programme, funded through Innovate UK on behalf of UK Research and Innovation. The Innovation Accelerator programme is investing £130 million in 26 transformative R&D projects to accelerate the growth of three high-potential innovation clusters, including the Glasgow City Region.

FinTech Scotland marks its eighth anniversary reinforcing its position as one of Europe’s leading fintech clusters

Marking its eighth anniversary, FinTech Scotland reports that the nation’s fintech cluster has more than doubled in size in the past five years – from just over 120 firms in 2020 to more than 260 – confirming Scotland’s position as one of Europe’s most dynamic and collaborative fintech clusters.

This growth has been driven by higher levels of investment, deeper partnerships across industry, academia and the public sector, and more businesses scaling up and trading internationally.

Innovation in practice has also taken a major step forward, with the 10-year FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap now embedded and over 40% of recommended actions under way. Central to this has been the 2025 award-winning Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), which plays a key role in creating the right conditions for collaboration and product development. A recent example is the partnership between Amiqus and Virgin Money: through the FRIL programme, Amiqus moved from an initial pilot to live production with Virgin Money, using AI to transform business banking onboarding – demonstrating the capability and scalability of its platform.

In 2025, the cluster also launched two major new initiatives: the Centre of Excellence in Distributed Ledger Technology, focusing on digital assets, payments and tokenisation, with digital trust at its core, and the Finance and Health Lab a pilot cross-sector research and innovation programme dedicated to improving financial wellbeing, resilience and long-term financial health in Scotland.

Looking ahead to 2026, FinTech Scotland will focus on translating innovation into economic and social value, in line with UK industrial policy priorities, and enabling all participating in the cluster to thrive.

Aleks Tomczyk, Chief Executive of FinTech Scotland, said:

“The doubling of Scotland’s fintech density is a clear signal that our collaborative and cluster-based approach is working. The Research and Innovation Roadmap provided a national framework to accelerate purposeful innovation, and it’s been inspiring to see how fintech entrepreneurs, financial institutions, and universities have got behind that shared vision.

As I begin 2026 as FinTech Scotland’s new Chief Executive, I look forward to leading our plans to support the next stages of cluster growth and thereby accelerate successful business growth and innovation in financial technology.”

Jane Martin, Managing Director of Innovation and Investment at Scottish Enterprise, added:

“A major strength for Scotland is its connected fintech cluster, an inclusive network of entrepreneurs, researchers, and industry leaders working together to solve real world challenges. This growth shows that Scotland can have a global impact by focusing on purposeful and collaborative innovation.”

Callum Murray, CEO of leading fintech firm Amiqus, said:

“FinTech Scotland has provided practical ongoing support to Amiqus and many other fintech scale ups across the country for many years. Our involvement in their FRIL innovation programme dramatically accelerated relationships with large scale banks, built trust in our capability to deliver at scale and directly led to us securing a new ongoing client partnership. We look forward to the collaborative opportunities working with the Fintech Scotland team over the years ahead.”

Telefónica joins FinTech Scotland as Strategic Partner with a shared commitment to responsible AI