Future of Payments Part 3 - Ashfords LLP & FinTech West
On Tuesday 25th February, FinTech West and Ashfords teamed up in Bristol for the third time since the start of last year to host the 3rd Future of Payments event, bringing together a full audience of people with an interest in the continually evolving payments sector. Note that Ashfords have produced a great write up with the key takeaways from the event in the form of a PDF.
Payments remains a red hot topic within FinTech and financial services more broadly, and over recent months the publication of key policy announcements around the Data (use and access) Bill and National Payments Vision have provided a dose of positivity to the market at a time when the economic environment has been going through a turbulent spell.
Stuart Harrison, Director of FinTech West, kicked things off and introduced Oliver Woodhouse of Ashfords, who provided what has become a customary and highly informative overview of the key developments in the regulatory landscape.
Oliver’s update kicked off on the topic of the ‘Dear CEO’ letter issued by the FCA to its payments portfolio earlier this month. The letter referenced the National Payments Vision, with the FCA noting the three pillars of innovation, competition and security are well aligned with its own objectives. The session then focused on three key outcomes:
Competition, innovation and customer needs
Firm and financial system integrity
Safeguarding and customer funds
Oliver also explained that the FCA had recently reviewed progress with Consumer Duty and found both positives and areas for improvement in the payments sector. Ensuring clear target markets and focusing on clear value to the consumer were specifically mentioned as key priorities for firms. In response to a question in the Q&A, Oliver explained that whilst the National Payments Vision had clarified where developments such as Open Banking and Open Finance sit in the regulatory framework, we are awaiting next steps in these two areas. Ashfords has a write up on key considerations for payment firms that received the letter, here.
Jack Mangnall of South West based Shape Technologies provided an upbeat report on their progress over recent months, which has included significant industry recognition in the form of PR and industry accolades. Jack explained how difficult it is to become a payments facilitator (‘Payfac’), and how Shape has built a platform to enable organisations to achieve this status in a time and cost efficient manner, integrating with multiple stakeholders in the process. Shape Technologies is aiming to grow in Bristol, making it on course to be an excellent example of a local FinTech success story.
Next we heard from banking and payments expert Eliot Heilpern of Parthenon Communications, who spoke about what he called the tangibles (‘what we know’) and the intangibles (‘what we don’t know’), running through a number of key variables in the payments environment, including:
What we know: security, fraud, and financial crime, crypto and blockchain, central bank digital currencies, banking as a service, cross border payments, the UK new payments infrastructure, the growth of FinTechs and challenger banks, Open Banking, ISO20022, and regulatory change such as PSD3 and Basel IV.
What we don’t know: Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and payment infrastructures; greater connectivity, interoperability, and reachability; greater operational resilience & safeguarding; collaboration, partnerships, communication (Customer, Bank/FI, Payments Network/ Vendor); data and data analytics (GDPR Acceptability); Open Banking (BaaS, Embedded Payments, BNPL); other initiatives (CoP, R2P, SCA)
Moving forward, Eliot highlighted that a key question is who will win out between banks and FinTechs, and predicated more acquisitions, consolidation and partnerships in the FinTech space. He closed his talk with a powerful message to the audience that the real value and power in any business lies not in its technology or brand, but in its people.
Next, for the first time (but not the last!) at FinTech West, we were delighted to welcome Google to the stage. Ronan Carter of Google Cloud explained how the global tech giant is increasingly engaging with regional FinTech hubs in the UK, most recently including FinTech West and FinTech Wales. He outlined the high expected growth in the payments sector over the coming years, and the anticipated ongoing decline of cash. Ronan highlighted the central role that data plays in the digitisation of the payments process, and explained how Google’s data ideation process helps drive innovation in the payments market.
Ronan closed with an offer of support to the FinTech West community, including financial benefits, funding for product development, access to Google’s global FinTech community, and the provision of technical guidance and training. For ease of reference, we have included a screen grab below:
Our next speaker represented the growing FinTech ecosystem on the South Coast, which was recently the focus of a new report form Whitecap Consulting. Caspian One Open Data was one of the standout FinTech firms from the recent Dorset FinTech Report 2025, and Lewis Poe explained the firm’s embedded finance proposition, which is enabled by open data. The Bournemouth-based firm is operating globally and Lewis noted that whilst the UK was a front runner in Open Banking, other countries have learned from our mistakes and this is challenging our competitiveness. Caspian One Open Data is aiming to change this, and is deploying its user-centric journeys across organisations ranging from UK FinTechs through to Canadian credit unions. Lewis described how trust frameworks are the ‘magic’ behind Open Banking, and painted a picture of a data-enabled ecosystem with global application.
Our closing speaker of the day, Ed Boal of Shieldpay, explained how they are making complex transactions secure and seamless, working primarily with the legal and professional services sector. Ed explained that when legal and professional services firms need to make payments via client money accounts, they rely on manual, admin-heavy, strictly regulated, and disconnected solutions to process and move money. Ed, who is based in Bristol, went on to describe how Shieldpay is seeking to fill the payments gap for handling client money, and how being able to hold client money means it can ensure funds are protected. It supplements the ability to provide segregated account structures with services such as international payments and FX services.
We were very grateful to Ashfords for hosting and supporting this event, which has become a popular series with a growing audience. If you were not able to join the first two session and would like to catch up, the links below will take you to the write ups.
Future of Payments Part 1 – featuring Ashfords, NMI, Cardstream, Griffin, Payment Services Regulator (PSR), Moneyhub
https://www.fintechwest.co.uk/news/future-of-payments-ashfords-fintech-west
Future of Payments Part 2 – featuring Ashfords, Payji, Revolut, APEXX Global
https://www.fintechwest.co.uk/news/future-of-payments-part-2-ashfords-llp-amp-fintech-west