New government envoys to support Scottish fintech

SCOTTISH peer-to-peer lenders such as LendingCrowd will be supported by new government envoys hired to develop Scotland’s growing fintech industry.

The Treasury said on Thursday that David Ferguson, chief executive of Nucleus, and Louise Smith, head of design in personal and business banking at the Royal Bank of Scotland, have been appointed as the government’s new fintech envoys for Scotland.

Read more: LendingCrowd gains full FCA approval

The envoys “will look to build regional and national fintech networks and foster a culture of collaboration to help Scotland take advantage of the fintech boom currently taking place across the UK”, the Treasury said.

Scotland has a number of large fintech firms, including Nucleus, LendingCrowd, The ID Company and Float. After London, it turns out the most fintech graduates in the UK.

“I’m delighted that David and Louise have agreed to become the government’s fintech envoys for Scotland,” said City minister Simon Kirby. “Their in-depth knowledge of the industry and excellent reputations make them the right people to drive forward positive change and allow Scottish fintech to flourish.”

Read more: Fintech front of queue for £2bn innovation investment

Fintech is one of the fastest-growing parts of the UK economy, contributing £6.6bn to economic growth in 2015 and employing over 61,000 people.

Edinburgh University is the largest informatics school in Europe and 35 per cent of all technology spin-out companies in the UK come from Scotland’s educational institutions.