FinTech Scotland – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode we’re diving into the Consumer Duty Regulation and the opportunities that outcomes-based regulation opens for innovative solutions that can enable financial services to maximise positive outcomes for all customers and in turn create economic and social growth.

The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab has launched its third innovation challenge focusing on that topic with 14 financial services partners ranging from banks, building societies and credit unions.

NatWest have been a keen supporter of this challenge seeing to harness the brightest ideas in fintech and to bring industry together on this key topic.

Today, we'll explore what this means for financial services organisations, for the millions of people across the country who are customers of Financial Services firms and how innovation and ambitious fintechs are already making a difference.

With:

Will Kerr, Head of Customer Outcomes

Samantha Brand Customer Lead Innovation & Partnerships

This is the inaugural episode of a special FinTech Scotland Podcast Series, co-hosted with with Charlotte Moir fromBT.

This episode highlights the launch of the new FinCrime Innovation Programme, tackling the pressing issue of fraud and financial crime.

We’ll unpack the impact of fraud in 2023, with £460 million lost to APP fraud in the UK, and discuss the implications of the new PSR mandatory reimbursement scheme introduced in October 2023. This landmark change enforces stricter rules within Faster Payments, ensures a shared responsibility between payment firms, and provides enhanced protections for customers, especially the vulnerable.

Our guests bring diverse insights into the fight against fraud:

• Lauren Cassells, Research & Programme Innovation Manager at FinTech Scotland, discusses the collaborative efforts of the FRIL initiative and its industry-wide engagement.

• Brian Webb, Chief Security Officer for Consumer at BT, shares BT’s strategies in combating fraud and fostering innovative partnerships.

• Paddy O’Keefe, Economic Crime Public & Private Partners Manager at Virgin Money, explores Virgin Money’s initiatives to ensure comprehensive fraud reporting and prevention.

In this episode, we explore the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in streamlining compliance within the financial sector, showcasing the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab.

We discuss the future of financial compliance, enriched by AI's capability to automate and innovate. This episode is for anyone interested in the intersection of technology, finance, and regulation, offering insights into the collaborative efforts shaping a more compliant and efficient financial landscape.

Guests: 

• Antony Brookes - Head of UK Investment Compliance, abrdn
• Mark Cummins - Professor of Financial Technology at University of Strathclyde
• Joanne Seagrave - Head of Regulatory Affairs at Tesco Bank

Episode recording with Fintech Australia.

Fintech has emerged as a transformative force in the financial sector, offering innovative solutions that not only enhance financial services but also address broader societal issues, including environmental sustainability, customer vulnerability, and overall financial well-being.

Those objectives are heavily featured in the Research & Innovation Roadmap that we published 2 years ago.

In Scotland, we have an important number of fintechs addressing those challenges. In fact, the majority of Scottish fintechs are fintech for good.

Today we’ll take some time to consider how those organisations are driving positive changes. 

Guests: 

Ren Hooi, Founder and CEO at Lightning Reach

Robin Peters, Co-founder and CEO at Snugg

Sheila Hogan, Founder and CEO at Biscuit Tin

In the ever-evolving landscape of fintech, securing Series A investment is a crucial milestone. Raising investment is much more than just about the money and we’re going to explore what that means in this episode.

We will delve into the crucial stage of Series A fundraising for fintech companies and speak about investor mindset, pitching, challenges and pitfalls.

This episode is for fintech entrepreneurs gearing up for Series A, investors keen on the latest trends, and anyone curious about the intersection of finance and technology.  Participants

Guests: 

Jason Cohen – Associate Director - Corporate Finance at PwC UK

Royston Hoggarth - Chair at Stellar Omada Limited

During this special episode of Fintech Scotland's Podcast we recorded live from the Fintech Summit, the opening event of Scotland Fintech Festival that took place between the 21st of September and the 12th of October 2023.

In this episode we spoke to Bryn Coulthard, Chief Product and Technology officer at Smart Data Foundry.

We discussed the role of data as an enabler for collaboration between fintech firms and established financial firms. More specifically we looked at synthetic data to innovate in a safe and efficient way.

In this special fintech festival episode Fintech Scotland and Findr spoke with Rebecca Midgley, Innovation Manager, at the Phoenix Group.

We spoke about their innovation forum, how they partner with fintechs and how they are looking to tackle societal issues such as the gender saving gap.

In this special 2023 Scotland Fintech Festival episode we spoke with Mike Teall, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Scottish fintech Snugg and Adam Betteridge, Partnerships and Open Banking Lead at TSB.

We discussed TSB Innovation Labs that saw Snugg secure a partnership with TSB, helping the bank's customer make their homes greener.

We focus specifically on what makes for a good collaboration between established financial firms and fintechs.

Scotland Fintech Festival took place between the 21st of September and the 12th of October. With over 50 events the festival was a real success this time again.

During the launch event, the Fintech Summit, we recorded special episodes in collaboration with collaboration platform Findr.

In this episode we speak with Nicola Anderson, CEO at Fintech Scotland about the festival itself as well as initiatives that are underway, delivering the recommendations of the UK Research & Innovation Roadmap.

Lending money is a process that has long been around and for many years it was left undisrupted. People are very familiar now with credit scores and the idea that to get credit you need credit.

New solutions and technologies are coming to disrupt this market to make financial products more accessible to a greater number of people.

In this episode we’ll look at how Open Finance is changing the status quo and look at some fantastic examples of fintech innovation.

We’ll also look at how credit bureaus are adapting and partnering with fintechs to evolve their own models.

Guests: 

Robert McKechnie – Head of Products at Equifax

Crawford Taylor – CEO and Founder at Nude