FinTech West Webinar 11/9/20
FinTech West’s latest webinar took place on Friday 11th September and included a number of speakers providing updates on regional and national developments in FinTech.
Click here or on the image below to watch the webinar
UK FinTech Updates
Julian Wells, Director of Whitecap Consulting & FinTech West, shared an update on some key national developments, drawn primarily from FinTech West’s involvement in the FinTech National Network.
Over the summer some new industry insight has been published, including a report from EY which found the UK FinTech sector delivered £11bn of revenue in 2019 (up from £6.6bn in 2015) and now accounts for c.8% of total financial services output of £132bn. Interestingly, 81% of this revenue can be attributed to B2B, 21% to B2C. It is thought this may relate to the primary source of revenue, as many FinTechs operate both models. The report highlighted a growing skills gap in FS, which increased by 30% between 2015-17, a period during which it decreased in other sectors. It would be interesting to see more recent data.
Despite the impact of COVID-19, funding has held up strongly in the sector with various recent reports (including KPMG and Beauhurst) have show that investment has increased year on year. Investors have indicated that FinTech valuations have also held up, which suggests FinTech has been a resilient sector through the pandemic. Beauhurst reported 99 FinTech deals were completed between January and June 2020, an increase of about 5% on the same period the previous year.
The UK FinTech Sector Review was commissioned in March 2020 and is designed to inform Government thinking on the fintech sector ahead of the March 2021 Budget. It has five ‘chapters’: Investment, Talent & Skills, Policy, International attractiveness, and National Connectivity. For the National Connectivity workstream the objectives are: Map and highlight fintech activity/capability/areas of excellence across the UK; emove the current barriers to growth regionally and; identify opportunities for connecting the regions to improve growth. FinTech West has been invited to help feed into the Review and we are interested to get insight into how the regions can connect better. Please feel free to email us at fintechwest@whitecapconsulting.co.uk.
Bristol Tech Festival – November 2020
Ben Shorrock, Managing Director of TechSPARK, gave an update on Bristol Technology Festival, which is now in its second year and will take place between 9-15th November.
Last year the inaugural festival attracted 5000 people across 43 events. Although it will be ‘virtual-first’ this year, this provides an opportunity to reach even more people nationally and internationally. FinTech West is hosting an event on 12th November which is free to attend – sign up here https://bristoltechfest.org/ .
FinTech Collaboration Roundtable
Alan Pratt, Partner at DACB, gave an overview of a roundtable hosted by DAC Beachcroft in June which focused on collaboration between FS corporates and FinTech startups / scaleups. Collaboration between corporates and FinTechs was highlighted as something that needed attention in the Bristol & Bath FinTech Ecosystem report published earlier this year. The roundtable highlighted that collaboration could lead to a better customer experience, which can help FinTechs and established FS organisations alike. FinTechs can help create smoother journeys, while established organisations have customers and the depth of knowledge and experience in the FS sector. Some of the topics discussed at the roundtable included the importance of networking, mentoring, pitch days, and sandboxes in creating and developing collaboration opportunities.
Solve.money
We heard from Nick Waktins, a FinTech entrepreneur who has recently relocated to Bristol from Sweden and is keen to network in the region. Nick has successfully built a number of FS businesses around the world, including in developing countries, and with solve.money he is looking at SME banking in Africa, where there is a big credit gap. Nick explain he is also looking at payments and embedded finance in Europe, as well as opportunities in the salary advance sector.
Angel Investors Club
Ali Kazmi of Angel Investors Club explained the UK is the leading Western Centre for Islamic Finance with Sharia compliant assets totalling £4.7 billion. The global market is growing - 6.5% between 2016 and 2017 and is worth $2.4 trillion. Sharia compliant banking assets make up 6% of the world’s banking assets, yet globally one in four people are Muslim, indicating a clear opportunity for growth.
Angel Investors Club’s online platform launches later this month and provides investors access to Sharia compliant and ethical investments, utilising SEIS, EIS or standard/non tax-advantaged investment wrappers. It also offers managed investor relations as a subscription service. A service that captures financial information and key updates from the company and presents this to investors via concise, real time updates.
They are launching on the 24th September and you are welcome to join their event at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-angel-investors-club-launch-webinar-tickets-120279076957
University of Bristol
Stuart Harrison of FinTech West and Whitecap Consulting provided updates on two projects the University is involved in:
Aspect is a £5 Million UK project providing specialist support for organisations looking to make the most of commercial and business opportunities from social sciences research. It is led by London School of Economics and Political Science, alongside ten other partners including The University of Bristol. The project will draw out good practice for University-business engagement using FinTech as the example sector, and is being conducted in partnership with University of Glasgow.
The second project is a new research study to identify the specific competitive advantages unique to London’s banking, financial and professional services’ cluster (aka City of London) which can inform best practice in business processes and policy formation for the future sustainability of the Bristol-Bath fintech ecosystem. The report is being co-produced by Professor Jon Beaverstock, with and for FinTech West and its members.
Stuart also highlighted that the latest UWE Innovation fund is now open, offering £1m of grants to businesses, for further information visit https://www.digitalinnovationfund.co.uk/
The next FinTech West event is scheduled for 12th November during Bristol Technology Festival. It is possible other events will be scheduled before then, in which case details will be sent via email as usual and shared via the usual social media channels of LinkedIn and Twitter. In the meantime you can sign up here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fintech-west-webinar-tickets-118435193853
