CEO Update – April 2025

22nd April 2025 | announcements, Blogs, IF News, News

 

Dear member,

I hope this finds you well and enjoying the warmer weather. It has been a tremendously busy first quarter of 2025 here at Innovate Finance, and I am keen to update you on some key initiatives and recent launches. I am also very excited to see all of you at our 11th annual edition of UK FinTech Week and IFGS 2025!

Firstly, a huge welcome to our newest Innovate Finance members: SBI Shinsei International Limited, Kyndryl, Acrisure, CME Group, FinTrU, FNZ, Ontario Trade & Investment Office - London, Doconomy, Colibrix, JAXUSA Partnership, Risk Ledger, ANNA Money, BCCS Tech, FinCrime Dynamics, Kainovation Technologies, Apex Digital Exchange, Bounce Funding UK LTD, BEYLA, Riff Financial, Revenir, Novum Investment Management Limited, Sikoia Ltd, Boex.

Government Engagement and Policy

2025 has already brought with it a whirlwind of policy activities as we continue to serve as your voice and advocate for the best possible environment in the UK for FinTechs and financial innovation to thrive. 

In March the Financial Conduct Authority published its new 5 year strategy for its work on regulating financial services. This backs the three strategic priorities we identified in our FinTech Plan for Government last year: a Smart Data revolution and an Open Finance Roadmap,  a Tech Positive regulator that supports the next generation of innovation, and action to tackle fraud. The FCA strategy adopts many priorities we have been calling for on behalf of UK FinTech. It promises to take an “increasingly tech-positive approach”; to speed up authorisations using technology; to stop unnecessary reporting requirements; give more firms a direct FCA contact point; and to rely on existing outcomes based rules rather than additional prescriptive rules that often frustrate innovation.

The Innovate Finance policy team, with your outstanding contributions, has responded to 13 consultations since the start of the year, including the: 

  • Bank of England consultation on Amendments to their approach to setting a minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL);
  • Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) call for input on Modernising the Redress System;
  • FCA consultation (CP24/20) on Changes to the safeguarding regime for payments and e-money firms;
  • FCA consultation (CP24/27) on Advice Guidance Boundary Review – proposed targeted support reforms for pensions; and
  • FCA discussion paper (DP24/4) on Regulating cryptoassets: Admissions & Disclosures and Market Abuse Regime for Cryptoassets. 

To have a look at our full list of consultation responses advocating on behalf of the sector, visit our Policy & Regulation page here.

Our response to the 13 consultations was also shaped by a number of significant engagement programmes where we brought government and regulators to meet with members in the spirit of frank, open and constructive dialogue. These included:

  • Roundtable with the FCA’s Therese Chambers, Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight, on the transparency of enforcement investigations. 
  • Meeting with Sir Dave Ramsden CBE, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England to discuss MREL and the Strong and Simple Framework for Small Domestic Deposit Takers (SDDTs).
  • Roundtable with the FCA’s Matthew Long, Director of Payments & Digital Assets and Jane Moore, Head of Payments and Digital Assets, on payments and digital assets. 
  • Breakfast roundtable with the FCA's Emad Aladhal, Director of Retail Banking Supervision, Policy & Competition on challenger banks priorities at Hogan Lovells’ offices. 
  • Roundtable with Callum Anderson MP, who is PPS to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, on supporting growth and enabling competition in UK FinTech, incentivising investment and creating a more responsive and adaptive policy environment.

We also launched our first report of the year on A Technology Strategy to Smash Fraud which sets out detailed proposals on how payments fraud can be halved by 2028. You can expect to see a few more thought leadership pieces advancing the FinTech policy and regulatory agenda over the course of the year. 

If you would like to know more about what we delivered last year, and what we are gearing to achieve this year, read this blog by our Chief Strategy Officer, Adam Jackson which sets out the 2025 FinTech Policy Agenda. I was also very pleased to welcome the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Emma Reynolds MP, to meet with our Unicorn Council members in February, just a few short weeks after she was appointed. The discussion ranged from how we can improve the capital landscape here in the UK to what policies we need to foster in order to secure critical talent, to how best to undertake key regulatory reform.

We are looking forward to having senior minister engagement at IFGS 2025 on 29th April and across UK FinTech Week. Nearly 10 months on from the election, we will be doing a deep dive throughout IFGS 2025 into the asks we laid out in July 2025 on behalf of the community in both our FinTech Plan for Government and our Unicorn Council for UK FinTech – identifying where have we seen substantial progress, and focusing on what more do we need to do now to cement our global leadership in FinTech.

Digital Pound Foundation and RegTech UK

In February we were delighted to complete the process of formally welcoming the Digital Pound Foundation within the Innovate Finance umbrella and community, and we are very much looking forward to building on the great work that has already been done by the DPF. In the coming weeks we will release our plan for the much-needed UK stablecoin regime, which we have been advocating for consistently and which I have recently communicated to the Chancellor and EST as absolutely imperative to move forward on at pace if we are to cement our future leadership in financial services.

In March we also launched RegTech UK, an initiative that will support the UK’s growth mission and enhance the competitiveness of the UK’s financial and professional services by championing and advocating for UK RegTech companies.

If you would like to learn more about either our Digital Pound Foundation work, or RegTech UK, please contact me directly or reach out to our policy team at policy@innovatefinance.com.   

Capital & Investment

In January we released our 2024 FinTech Investment Landscape. The numbers were stark: Global FinTech investment fell 20% to $43bn in 2024 compared to 2023 and UK FinTech investment fell 37% to $3.6bn in 2024 compared to 2023. However, positive sentiment for future investment was high, and we are hopeful this year and next will see higher levels of investment return, with the UK continuing to lead the way.

Member Programming

Reflecting on the Journey So Far

As we continue to grow and build stronger connections across the fintech ecosystem, we are happy to look back on the dynamic events we have hosted in the first quarter of this year. Each gathering has brought together brilliant minds, innovative ideas, and valuable discussions that are shaping the future of our industry.

And the momentum doesn’t stop at IFGS and UK FinTech Week! Our Members Programme rolls on with a stellar line-up of events designed to connect, inspire and drive impact across the ecosystem. Here’s what’s coming up:

Explore more and get involved here.  

FinTech for Good

Driving greater diversity and inclusion across the sector and beyond remains one of our core principles and driving factors at Innovate Finance. In March we celebrated our 9th annual Women in FinTech Powerlist with a brilliant launch event hosted by KPMG. Thank you to our outstanding sponsors KPMG, Zilch, Openpayd and Zopa Bank and a huge congratulations to the Standout 45, the 250 women selected to the list and also to the hundreds of women who nominated others or put themselves forward this year. 

Looking ahead, we are excited for our 3rd Pride in FinTech celebratory event that will take place on December 4 at Google in London. If you would like to get involved in any of our diversity work, please contact our team at connect@innovatefinance.com. 

International

Our Innovate Finance US Programme had a busy start to the year, with an exciting 2025 FinTech New Year’s Reception in New York in partnership with the Department for Business and Trade held at the British Residence which welcomed members, partners and industry leaders. This was followed in March by a roundtable discussion with the Lord Mayor on his visit to NYC, which we jointly organised with our partners the City of London Corporation, London & Partners, and the Department for Business and Trade. 

We will be hosting a number of additional programmes in May and throughout the remainder of the year to convene our transatlantic financial innovation community in New York City – if you would like to get involved, please reach out to matthieu@innovatefinance.com. 

In March, we were also delighted to launch our Innovate Finance Ireland initiative, aimed at strengthening the ties between the UK and Irish FinTech communities. We had an exciting kick off event at Dogpatch in Dublin where we explored how to best build connections between the dynamic Irish Fintech ecosystem and its UK counterpart. Huge thanks to our partners and sponsors Hogan Lovells, Keeper Solutions, Dogpatch, and Enterprise Ireland for supporting us. We are looking forward to hosting more events in Dublin – please reach out to peter@innovatefinance.com if you would like to receive further information on this.

IFGS and UK FinTech Week 2025!

It is full steam ahead for the 11th annual edition of the Innovate Finance Global Summit, IFGS 2025, and UK FinTech Week! 

We have been so honoured to run UK FinTech Week for the past decade with a number of key partners over the years including HMT and DBT, and this is set to be the very best year yet!  

Join us and our ecosystem partners for a week of activities championing our world-leading UK FinTech sector – full details on activities for the week can be found here. 

And of course – we are so excited to welcome you once again to IFGS 2025! We have an absolutely stellar agenda for you with more than 1,800 senior leaders set to attend and hear from more than 160 FinTech founders, CEOs, senior representatives from industry and big tech, and senior regulatory and government officials and ministers on the future of finance. Not to mention a full day of in-depth roundtables exploring everything from leadership in AI to talent in FinTech, competition, data and more. Make sure you secure your ticket today, and I look forward to seeing you on 29th April at the Guildhall! 

Warm regards,

Janine

 

 

 

 

Janine Hirt,
CEO, Innovate Finance

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