Government scales up fintech support
The UK government has unveiled a number of new support measures for the UK’s fintech industry, signalling its commitment to the sector in the post-pandemic economy.
Speaking at UK Fintech Week in April, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ‘scale box’, a Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology and a taskforce into a digital centralised currency.
The FCA ‘scale box’ will create a “one-stop shop for growth stage firms”, in an effort to improve the long-term prospects for fintech firms.
These new measures were initially outlined in the Kalifa Review, which was published in February.
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During UK Fintech Week, the review’s author Ron Kalifa said that “we don’t have a problem with regard to start-ups in the UK, we have a problem with scale-ups.”
He welcomed the new government efforts, but said that more could be done to ensure the success of UK fintech. He called for the government to create a digital finance package that designs a new framework for fintech, and to use institutional capital to create a fintech growth fund worth £1bn.
“We have a huge opportunity to make a transformational change for the UK,” Kalifa added.
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“It’s going to be about financial inclusion, innovation, and that’s what the fintech sector represents.”
According to data from Innovate Finance, investment into the UK’s fintech sector hit a record £2.5bn in the first quarter of 2021 – a rise of 331 per cent year-on-year.
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