FinTech West Webinar 11-3-21

On Thursday 11th March we hosted the latest FinTech West webinar, with guest speakers including the England HM Treasury FinTech Envoy, Bristol Credit Union CEO, UWE FinTech MSc Joint Programme Leader and Co-Founder of Creditcall.

Stuart Harrison, director of FinTech West & associate director for the South West at Whitecap Consulting, chaired the event which as usual ran for an hour and contained a mixture of regional updates and FinTech speakers.

Click here to watch the recording of the FinTech West webinar

We heard from four guest speakers at the event:

Dr. Chris Sier, HM Treasury Fintech Envoy

Chris outlined how he’s been working in FinTech since 2007 and is a great supporter of regional FinTech which is where Chris believes we need the groups on the ground that spots the local talent and help nurture it. Any central involvement should be one of coordination and not control.

Chris outlined how the Kalifa report is suggesting how the UK can operate as one and stated that it has achieved 90% of what it set out to do but perhaps a little light on recognising the autonomy and expertise in the regions.

Chris took us through some of the methodology which resulted in 10 UK clusters being noted including Bristol & Bath of course. He described the recommendations made relating to the 5 “chapters” of the research, namely Policy & Regulation, Skills, Investment, International and National Connectivity.

There is a central body that has been recommended called the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) to help drive national co-ordination and collaboration. The review recognises that UK is more than just London and there is regional opportunity. Chris believes the UK will be better for that and will be driven through CFIT however there is still a lot to be worked out.

Chris felt the review didn’t go into any great detail regarding the regional aspects but he did heavily praise the work that Whitecap has undertaken in being involved in and co-ordinating 3 of the clusters mentioned in the report.

Chris makes some very good points and offers plenty of wisdom so the video is very well worth watching in full.

To reach out to Chris, contact him at chris.sier@fs-net.org

James Berry, CEO, Bristol Credit Union

James outlined the journey in moving from being a very traditional business to becoming a FinTech. He outlined what a credit union does and how they are very much banking with a purpose, on a mission to help make the people and communities they serve better off.

BCU is now 22 years old and has traditionally covered Bristol and Bath but is extending its area of coverage to include Glos, Wilts, Somerset & Dorset.

Until recently the internal tech was a variety of unconnected systems which they knew was unsustainable in the long term and the systems had to change in order to support growth. Having gained investment they have been able to achieve a number of things including addressing the tech.

Now BCU has an integrated configuration and architecture able to deliver a great member experience and increase lending. Lessons have been learnt about becoming innovative, great design and finding the right partners although James notes that it’s perhaps best not to try and do all this in a pandemic!

And we had a big reveal that BCU are going through rebranding to become Great Western Credit Union.

For more information, visit https://bristolcreditunion.org/

Dr. Yanhui Cathy Zhu, Joint Programme Leader of FinTech MSc, UWE

Cathy started by giving the impressive news that they have 60 very enthusiastic students started the MSc. The students have come from a mixed background with half being EU students and the other half from locations such as China, India, Nigeria etc. Some have even given up management roles in banks to join the programme!

Cathy outlined the compulsory modules within the course including Finance for fintech, FinTech Environment, Introduction to Programming and Data Science, Interdisciplinary Group Project and a FinTech Dissertation.

The students then have to pick 2 modules from options including areas such as machine learning and cryptocurrencies.

As they started in January, it was bad news for the students as they are not having a summer break, so no holidays!

Collaboration has taken place with industry, including FinTech West, and UWE want to work with business so they can offer valuable talent to FinTech companies. This includes helping solve a data-related problem for businesses as part of the Interdisciplinary Module, helping to develop a FinTech product or service as part of the FinTech Dissertation module as well as ad-hoc work and internships.

UWE are also looking for industry sponsors, mentors, potential employers and guest speakers.

For more information see the programme at https://courses.uwe.ac.uk/N3I212/financial-technology-fintech or contact Cathy via Yanhui.Zhu@uwe.ac.uk

Sian Bosley, Co-Founder of Creditcall

Sian provided a fascinating insight into both her journey and that of a FinTech start-up that ultimately became a global success. Sian started by working in various roles in accountancy across the Bristol area. In 1998 she was approached to join start-up Creditcall as FD (CFO) which at the time was essentially a telecoms company to take payments via credit card devices attached to telephones.

Creditcall moved on to take payments from parking systems and achieved a world first doing that. Growth resulted in US expansion, adding technologies and capabilities and becoming a true omnichannel payment gateway provider.

Creditcall achieved a history of world firsts, significant customers and kept pushing the boundaries to help dramatically shape the industry. A little company that started in Bristol ended up with global reach.

Sian personally wore a lot of hats from CFO to support to business development. They undertook an MBO and Sian became full time business development while holding a board position.

Creditcall became part of NMI after a trade sale but still very much with a local presence. Sian herself is currently undertaking NED and advisor roles including mentoring start-ups and would be happy to speak to businesses seeking such good experience to help their own growth.

Sian can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sianbosley/ or sianbosley@yahoo.co.uk

NEXT EVENT

The next webinar will be on Thursday 22nd April– sign up here.