Feature
Stephen Ingeldew speaking at the DIGIT Summit during the three-week Fintech Festival
and transfer systems in the 1970s. This has since developed into a world-leading fintech cluster hosting several multinational companies such as the Ingenico Group and attracting new entrants to set up in Scotland, such as Renovite, a leading-edge payment technology company based in California and India which established a development centre last year. And it’s not just in payments that fintechs are making their mark in Scotland, but across all aspects of financial services, such as banking, insurance, asset management, pensions, insurance and savings, using different types of technologies from artificial intelligence and block chain to cloud platforms and data analytics. The advent of Open Banking by the
Competition and Markets Authority in the UK in January 2018 was designed to generate more innovation and competition in the market and open the door for fintechs to use a range of technologies to help financial services companies give their customers a better user experience. Stephen said: “There has been a big
explosion in data that can be used by organisations and individuals in recent years and the application of fintech can make the best use of this data, to deliver better outcomes for both the businesses to operate and in the way in which consumers engage with their money. The advent of open banking and the ability of big financial services companies to share their data with innovative technology companies have enabled fintech to generate new opportunities for these businesses. It’s when people come together to share their insights that you get
great opportunities to be creative.” Glasgow is home to a wide range of
fintechs, such as Castlight Financial and Soar. Castlight Financial, part of Experian and one of the UK’s leading open banking technology companies, has created a powerful customer affordability tool which allows lenders and advisers to more accurately assess their clients’ affordability at the touch of a button.
Martin Leonard, Castlight Financial’s
Chief Commercial Officer, explained: “Our mission is to ‘Create a safer financial world’ through customer affordability. Rather than just using credit rating and generic affordability data, our technology shines a light into the customer’s bank account to see their true financial position – not just their income but exactly how they spend their money – to help support the lender’s decision-making processes.” He believes that smaller entrepreneurial
fintechs are thriving because their innovation, ‘fail fast, learn quickly’ ethos and speed to market leaves them in a better position to see the gaps in the market and adapt more easily to the requirements of customers. Looking to the future, Martin added: “I think we are at a point where regulation will start to understand that some of the data and products that fintechs produce should be adopted as common practice. For example, using open banking for customer income and expenditure is much more accurate than using ONS statistics or customers trying to remember what they spend. With these shifts in understanding and support from the regulator, fintechs will have a greater platform in which to grow. “In terms of wider markets, I think a lot of
the tech developed and AI which is used will have wider applications in other areas where customers go through an acquisition or where data is used to understand the customer better.”
Soar is another Glasgow-based fintech that specialises in providing mobile apps, internet banking and an advisor hub for credit unions. The 18-strong company, set up in 2017 by the award-winning Scottish entrepreneur, Andrew Duncan, currently has 10 customers, including Glasgow Credit Union, the UK’s largest credit union. It was recently awarded a £450,000 grant from Scottish Enterprise and £75,000 from Scottish Edge for research and development and Soar plans to expand its offering to other ethical financial organisations such as Community Development Finance Institutions and building societies. Soar Marketing Manager Laura Hillhouse said: “There is a lot of support for entrepreneurial fintechs in Scotland and through organisations like FinTech Scotland there are good opportunities for networking and collaboration. For us it’s more about partnership than competition, and in the future we are going to see much more collaboration between fintechs. “We may be experts in our field but if
we are going to serve our market properly we will need to partner with others who may have the special skills we need in the future. So meeting other fintechs and talking about what is happening in the market is important for the development of the industry.” Stephen endorsed this inclusive
We are going to see much more collaboration between fintechs”
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www.glasgowchamberofcommerce.com
approach: “The fintech ethos is all about co-creation and that’s the type of collaboration we want to encourage across Scotland so that we will soon be recognised as a major international fintech hub. “It’s all about the creative use of
technologies to meet and address human needs and challenges. It’s a really exciting area which is not just new to Scotland, it’s new to the world too.”
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