CEO Update – March 2022
Hello all,
I hope this finds you all well and gearing up for an eventful spring.
It has been a busy first quarter of 2022 at Innovate Finance, with preparations for IFGS and UK FinTech Week now fully underway, amidst our calendar of member events and regular engagements with government and regulators on a huge array of issues impacting the sector.
IFGS 2022 and UK FinTech Week
Firstly, I want to say that we are incredibly excited to welcome all of you back in-person to our flagship event, IFGS 2022, which will take place at the Guildhall in London on Monday April 4th and Tuesday April 5th.
I and the Innovate Finance team cannot wait to see all of you face-to-face as we convene the community once again for what will be the eighth annual edition of the world’s preeminent FinTech conference.
As always, IFGS 2022 will also kick off UK FinTech Week, supported by DIT, HMT and the City of London, so watch this space for a number of events and gatherings across the course of those five days.
We have a fantastic roster of speakers confirmed including key leaders and executives from across the FinTech, regulatory, government, and heritage financial services space. You can find a full agenda here.
If you are a member of Innovate Finance, please do take advantage of your complimentary ticket offer. If you’re not sure how to do this, please contact the membership team.
Otherwise, please secure your ticket on our website to join us for what is sure to be an incredible two days of discussion, debate, and insight into the key trends shaping the financial services industry.
Welcome to New Members
We are delighted to announce our newest IF members: Boston Consulting Group, Tilney Smith & Williamson, Airwallex, Elliptic, Fidel, Fortanix, IDnow, Quant, Ripple, Totally Money, Adoptech, Banked, BR-DGE, i2i Logic, Keyless, Know Your Customer, LatentBridge, Wonderful Payments, Begini, BondEvalue, Crezco, Nayaone, Sprk and Torus.
A very warm welcome to the Innovate Finance community!
Progressing our Strategic Priorities - Update
Ensuring FinTech is recognised as a key pillar of the UK's soft and hard power
We kicked off the year with our Investment Landscape Report and the fantastic news that investment into the UK FinTech sector surpassed $11.6bn in 2021, more than a 200% increase year-on-year. The UK remains firmly the second top destination in the world for FinTech investment, behind only the US, and ahead of the next six European hubs combined.
In light of this positive news, I am delighted to announce the launch of our International FinTech Group in collaboration with the Department for International Trade (DIT). The group will drive action across the UK FinTech sector to further solidify its position as a global leader in financial innovation. The formation of this group comes as a direct output of the Kalifa Review, which put forward a number of recommendations on international attractiveness and competitiveness. Innovate Finance and the DIT will co-chair the Group, which will bring together organisations from across industry and government with a joint desire to ensure that the UK FinTech ecosystem continues to grow. It will deliver initiatives that promote the UK FinTech sector in key international markets, and will build awareness of existing and planned trade agreements, frameworks, and available support – ensuring the benefits of these initiatives are realised for all regions and nations of the UK.
In February 2022, more than 75 CEOs from startup, scaleup, and high growth FinTech companies from the Innovate Finance membership base signed our Open Letter marking the one year anniversary of the publication of the Kalifa Review on UK FinTech. The letter acknowledged the strong progress made by the government, regulators, and industry over the past 12 months on progressing a majority of the recommendations, but called for even bolder action to build on this current momentum and work together to commit to cement the UK’s position as the best location in the world to start, build and scale a FinTech business. In the coming months we will continue to keep you updated on progress across the areas of policy and regulation, investment, international, national connectivity, and skills.
Support the development of the UK’s world-leading regulatory regime
In the first two months of 2022, we sought our members feedback and responded to five major consultations on new regulations, including the Treasury Consultation on Future Regulatory Framework; the FCA Consultation on Consumer Duty; Treasury proposals on regulation of Buy Now, Pay Later; thePayment Systems Regulator Consultation on proposals to introduce mandatory reimbursement for victims of scams; andFCA proposals on sustainability labelling and disclosures.
We also launched two new vertical-focused member policy groups: one on crypto and digital money, and one on RegTech.
We convened the crypto and digital money companies in our membership with an initial aim of responding to the FCA’s consultation on financial promotion rules for cryptoassets, and we will be broadening the scope of our work on crypto and digital money with a view to develop a vision of how the UK can be a leading centre for responsible crypto and DeFI, combining innovation, competition, stability and consumer protection.
We brought together our RegTech members to discuss the most pressing issues they are facing and understand their views on how we can scale UK RegTech. We are now developing an initial plan of action to work with our members over the coming months.
Please do get in touch with our policy team if you would like further information on any of the consultation responses above, or if you would like to engage on one of our member policy groups.
Champion FinTech’s positive impact on broader society
A core component of IFGS 2022 will be an exploration into the role FinTech has already played, and must continue to play, in advancing the financial health and wellness of individuals and SMEs across the UK. We have also begun engaging with a number of you on how the FinTech sector can step up and support society in the face of the cost of living crisis, and we will share further details and information on this shortly.
It was a great pleasure to announce the Innovate Finance Women in FinTech Powerlist 2021 on International Women’s Day, and to celebrate at our Powerlist event on 17 March. The transformation of financial services is being driven by passionate, inspiring female leaders representing all levels of seniority and all components of the FinTech ecosystem. In their role as entrepreneurs, founders, investors, bankers, communicators, tech experts, and more, it is these outstanding women who are moving the needle and making financial services more sustainable, more effective, and more inclusive for all. While we are only able to profile a small number of outstanding women in this list, we hope it serves as a testament and a tribute to all the incredible females that are changing the world every day.
Innovate Finance Team Updates
I am absolutely delighted to announce two senior promotions at Innovate Finance. Hayley Bromilow has been appointed our Chief Operating Officer, and Thin Chambers has been appointed our Chief Financial Officer. As many of you will be aware, Hayley and Thin have both been integral members of the Innovate Finance team for a number of years, and bring outstanding leadership skills, deep sector expertise, and a true passion for creating a more inclusive financial services sector. I look forward to continuing to work closely with them both to ensure Innovate Finance is able to best serve and support our members and the entire FinTech ecosystem.
I am also very pleased to welcome Roberto Napolitano as our new Director of Marketing and Communications, after Clare Black moved on earlier this year to join our fantastic partner Streets Consulting.
We are currently hiring for several new junior positions in our team, including a Membership & Marketing Associate and an International Associate. If you know an individual who is in the early stages of their career with buckets of energy, please do send them our way!
Ukraine
I am sure you, like all of us at Innovate Finance, are horrified by the events unfolding in Ukraine. We are working closely with our members and convening the FinTech community to help Ukraine, support the international response and support FinTech resilience and legal obligations. On 11 March we held our Ukraine Aid Forum, an opportunity for members of the ecosystem to discuss how the FinTech community can come together to bring help to those affected by the crisis. We are working on the outputs of this session now, and will continue to hold opportunities for the sector to convene and take action in the coming weeks. As you may be aware, the National Cyber Security Centre has issued a heightened threat level and advised all organisations to review cyber resilience. We will also host informational sessions on increasing your own cyber security and awareness in the near future.
As a final note, I can’t wait to see many of you in-person at the Guildhall in two weeks’ time for IFGS 2022. Finally, after two years, this annual celebration of our industry and of the passionate innovators transforming financial services for the better is back in-person. It will definitely be a Summit to remember, and we look forward to seeing you all there!
Janine Hirt,
CEO, Innovate Finance
