Kalifa calls fintech innovation centre funding ‘final piece of the jigsaw’
Ron Kalifa has heralded a funding agreement to set up a Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) that he had called for in a government-commissioned report on the fintech sector earlier this year.
Kalifa had proposed that a body to be set up to “coordinate targeted fintech policies that aim to scale the sector.”
The Kalifa review said that it is vital to accelerate the development and growth of fintech clusters through further investment, and to drive a national national coordination strategy through the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology.
The Treasury’s budget and spending review last month committed £5m of seed funding to set up a CFIT.
Kalifa told the Press Association that the funding is the final piece of the jigsaw needed to deliver his fintech strategy, according to a report in the Evening Standard.
“From a budget point of view, all I wanted was really for that to be endorsed and seed funded,” he said.
“We’ve got that, so I was delighted with where we’ve landed.”
However, fintech trade body Innovate Finance last week suggested there was more to do to implement the Kalifa Review recommendations.
Janine Hirt, chief executive of Innovate Finance, called on government bodies to adopt even more of Kalifa’s recommendations, particularly when it comes to “the need for more formal mechanisms to strengthen the strategic cohesion of fintech policies across government and the regulators.”
“This is evident in some policy and regulation areas where progress has perhaps been slower: on digital ID, open finance and crypto regulation; areas where the Kalifa Review identified global opportunities for the UK and a risk of slipping behind other countries in the absence of a clear strategy,” added Hirt.
“Eight months in, there has been lots done; and there is still lots more to do. As well as short and medium term delivery of the Kalifa Review recommendations, we also need to keep a longer term eye on ‘what next?’. With constant market innovation in the market, there will always be more to do….”