FinTech West @ Bristol Tech Festival 6/11
On Wednesday 6th November, FinTech West hosted its fourth event of 2019 at TLT’s office in Bristol. The event took place as part of the inaugural Bristol Technology Festival, and attracted a record 200 registrations from across the region’s financial, tech and business community. Bristol Technology Festival includes 42 independently organised events, with the vast majority of the 3000 available places already having been filled.
Julian Wells welcomed the delegates and provided an update on some of the recent FinTech activity in the region, including FinTech West’s participation in the recent FinTech National Network Symposium in Glasgow and a brief update on the FinTech ecosystem research currently being conducted by Whitecap Consulting. Attendees were encouraged to complete a short multiple choice survey to take part: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BristolRegionFinTechSurvey
We then heard from four keynote speakers followed by a showcase of some of the region’s most exciting FinTech and Tech brands.
Dan Read - partner, TLT
Approximately 40% of TLT’s revenue comes from its extensive work in FS, and Dan gave an update on some of the key developments they have been observing in the FinTech space. Dan reported that there continues to be a significant rise in UK and global FInTech investment in financial terms, but at the same time, deal numbers are reducing, which TLT see as a sign the market is maturing.
FinTechs are expanding their service lines to open up new revenue streams. Banks are building their own FinTech capability. The key challenges in FInTech include competition for talent, access to funding, and gaining customer traction and trust. Dan also highlighted the difficulty in increasing collaboration between established brands and FinTech innovators.
Chris Hill, CEO, Hargreaves Lansdown
Hargreaves Lansdown was started from a bedroom in Clifton 38 years ago. Today it has 1.2m clients with savings or investments products, and has developed a market leading digital proposition. There are now 350 people working in technology within the firm. Chris told the audience that Hargreaves Lansdown, a FTSE 100 company, is now the biggest fintech in the UK.
Chris explained that factors such as longer life expectancy and a low interest rate environment have created a complex world where clients need advice, knowledge and insight to make investment decisions. Hargreaves Lansdown considers its technology to a competitive advantage as it can react faster than its competitors, but he also highlighted that as the firm has grown it has recognised it can’t do everything in house, and will benefit towards a focus on partnerships, particularly in light of developments such as APIs and tech ecosystems.
Hargreaves Lansdown approaches FinTech through a service lens, looking to enhance the customer experience. Chris said that the firm considers Bristol is well placed to take advantage of the FinTech revolution and wants to support the sector. Hargreaves Lansdown hosted the first ever FinTech West event and is supporting the regional ecosystem research being carried out by Whitecap.
Phil Vidler - CEO, FinTech Alliance
FinTech Alliance aims to bring the FinTech together, and add value where things may be missing such as connectivity and access to funding opportunities. Having launched in phases since April this year, it now t has 200 firms signed up and has been developed in collaboration with DIT and HM Treasury. The FinTech Alliance website carries FinTech content including news, university courses, and information about the UK’s international Fintech bridges.
Phil told the audience that there is a lot of activity, a significant and growing number of FinTechs, but that FinTech Alliance acknowledges that the market can be hard to navigate and aims to help with this. Examples included the fact that FinTechs are looking for partnerships and opportunities, as well as funding, while established brands such as banks want to better understand how to engage with FinTechs and what is available. FinTech Alliance aims to bring things together, and also provides an investment hub to connect FinTechs and investors. This was developed by Delio, a FinTech platform provider.
FinTech Alliance is free to join for pre-seed startups, with more established firms paying for membership.
University of the West of England (UWE) – Tracey John, Director of Research & Innovation
Tracey talked though an impressive showcase of the many ways the university is actively engaging with the regional business community. UWE’s strategy is headlined as ‘Transforming Futures’, and its stated purpose is ‘Solving future challenges through outstanding learning, research and a culture of enterprise.’
UWE hosts 30,000 students from 140 countries, and has 3,692 staff and 250,000 alumni. It has links with more than 7,000 employers, and offered 8,850 industry placements in 2016/17. It is a significant supplier of talent in the region, with over 50% of graduates remaining in the South West to work.
The university has this year announced a Masters in FinTech, which was designed in consultation with various regional organisations including FinTech West. The course focuses on preparing students for the regulatory, ethical and programming challenges likely to arise around new disruptive technologies in finance. Illustrating the breadth of the FinTech sector, it combines expertise from the University’s Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, as well as the Department of Computer Science and Creative Technologies.
FINTECH SHOWCASE SPEAKERS:
LOQBOX - Fergus Adam
LOQBOX helps people get access to the financial system. 5.8 million people in the UK are invisible to the financial system, and 77% of people can not access the best deals. People are excluded due to: lack of opportunity (credit history), lack of financial education, and resilience (lack of savings or access to funds).
The first LOQBOX product launched in July 2017 was LOQBOX Build, which has helped over 100,000 people. LOQBOX helps people build their credit score by saving £20-200 per month and educates them about finances along the way. This is possible as LOQBOX allows customers to manage credit while they save. The enhanced credit score enables consumers to obtain credit in future, and at a better price.
Payaca – Matt Franklin
Payaca is a platform that enables consumers to connect to multiple lenders to find the best loans, with a focus on their requirement to cover the costs of work to be done by tradesmen. 60% of UK homeowners cannot afford a sudden bill of £1000.
The customer gets a loan and then pays the tradesman directly using the funds. The revenue comes from lenders (who pay commission) and Payaca is looking to expand into other sectors in future, as well as to expand internationally. The model is streamlined financially so is attractive for the SMEs who do not need to pay significant fees. Payaca is currently fundraising and is keen to hear from potential investors.
Sixty – Josh Stott
Sixty is a new app-based proposition for self employed people. There are 5 million self employed in the UK, but only 14% are saving for a pension and according the FT this is creating a ‘pensions time bomb’ for these people.
Sixty uses Open Banking APIs and Machine Learning to save 1-10% of its customers’ income each month into a pension. Setup, deposits and withdrawals are all free, HMRC tax relief is automated, and the annual charge is fixed at 0.90% per year, including all charges.
The Sixty app is being released on Apple and Android this week.
YellowDog – Gareth Wiliams
Financial and risk models can draw on a lot of processing power, which means they can take a long time. 30% of servers installed are never used, and the average server utilisation is only 5%. Data Center emissions are more of a problem for the environment than aerospace.
YellowDog enables companies to accelerate and optimise complex data processes via its intelligent and predictive scheduling and orchestration platform for hybrid and multi-cloud management. Its technology automates the selection of the best source of compute for every workload, delivering new levels of prediction and efficiency in cost and performance optimisation.
YellowDog employs 30 people and has 2160 clients across 50 countries. To date it has raised £5.3m in funding.
