Deloitte, Morgan Stanley, Tesco Bank, and Abrdn back FinTech Scotland innovation challenge to tackle financial regulatory hurdles

Key names unite to tackle key financial regulatory hurdles and increase consumer protection.

Fintechs and other teams of innovators are being invited to take part in what is billed as a first-of-its-kind innovation challenge to solve key financial regulatory hurdles – and potentially secure grant awards of up to £50,000 to progress their ideas.

Representative body FinTech Scotland, working with professional services supporter Deloitte, and with Tesco Bank, Morgan Stanley and Abrdn, has debuted the latest industry-led call to action aiming to encourage financial institutions and innovators from across the growing fintech community “and beyond” to learn collaboratively and facilitate industry forums to collectively share best practices for companies to progress relevant solutions.

The organisations behind the initiative are inviting eligible participants to identify and use technologies to address industry compliance challenges and generate “effective solutions that will yield positive outcomes for the pressing needs of consumers and businesses alike”.

'We are extremely excited to kick off this inaugural industry innovation challenge,' says Nicola Anderson, CEO of FinTech Scotland. Picture: contributed.

The inaugural innovation challenge, spearheaded by the newly established Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), is titled Simplifying Compliance through the Application of AI and Emerging Technologies. The FRIL is funded by the Glasgow City Region Innovation Accelerator programme, and works with the University of Strathclyde and the University of Glasgow. The application window is now open and the Innovation Challenge Call finale event will take place in April 2024.

FinTech Scotland boss Nicola Anderson said: “We are extremely excited to kick off this inaugural industry innovation challenge. Demand-led innovation calls are an important part of the toolkit that the [FRIL] will employ to drive positive outcomes. It is also an opportunity to bring together financial institutions and innovators, enabling financial institutions to learn collaboratively about ways to improve compliance processes to drive efficiency for the sector and, ultimately, increase consumer protection.”

Kent Mackenzie, fintech lead for Scotland at Deloitte, said: “Simplifying compliance is critical to delivering change in financial services, and industry-wide solutions can help enable us to accelerate this positive change. The Lab provides a unique environment to support collaboration, and this groundbreaking initiative will further support how financial services firms are innovating to meet their regulatory obligations.”

Joanne Seagrave, head of regulatory affairs at Tesco Bank, said the lender embraces the opportunity that the FRIL’s innovation call series offers to work with innovators. “This will allow us to gain further insight on how utilising AI and emerging technologies could help support us in managing the evolving regulatory change landscape. It also presents a significant opportunity to advance industry understanding.”

Angela Benson, head of Glasgow Finance at Morgan Stanley, said: “Morgan Stanley recognises the opportunity in employing AI and emerging technologies to address the industry’s global regulatory obligations. We are delighted to partner with FinTech Scotland on this innovation challenge to foster ideation and support the next generation of innovators in this space. Having opened our office in Glasgow over 20 years ago, we have seen first-hand the depth of talent Scotland has to offer.”

Gareth Murphy, chief risk officer at Abrdn, also commented: “It is essential that we continue to evolve the mix of people, process, and technology in all of our activities. We draw on extensive experience in financial services, in Scotland and globally. This collaboration is a testament to our commitment to seizing the ongoing opportunities that financial services and innovation present."