Paul Gordon

Starling Bank Group Achieves Third Year of Profitability John Mountain, Interim CEO of Starling Bank, said: “This is our third full year of profitability demonstrating a robust financial performance. It was a breakthrough year for Starling as we became a global provider of banking Software as a Service through our subsidiary Engine by Starling. We’ve heavily invested in Engine because we’re confident it can one day become as big as the UK bank, or bigger.” https://lnkd.in/eEMDEn_n David Sproul Raman Bhatia Engine by Starling #fintech #finance #banking #paytech #payments #fintechnews #paymentsnews

35

Our Chief Economist @Sebastianburnside delves into the insights from our latest Regional PMI Report to discuss economic growth trends, cost pressures and business output across all nations and regions of the UK. https://lnkd.in/e2HMr8bu

1

It’s not very often reviews gets adopted as National Vision, sometimes and in many occasions government policy reviews don’t end up seeing the light of day but our contributions into the Future of Payments Review 2023 has now been published as the UK National Payments Vision NPV. Delighted our contribution and many others formed UK economic growth strategy decades to come in establishing UK as one the leading Nations for driving payments innovation! https://lnkd.in/dgR9RgZD #payments #fintech #UK #vision

8

2 Comments

The UK's National Payments Vision, published last week, sets out an ambitious plan to revitalise the UK payments sector. The vision sets out a plan to drive growth and innovation through simplified, more proportionate regulation, alongside modernised infrastructure and enhanced collaboration between the government, regulators, and industry. It touches on key, inter-related initiatives, including the future of our payments systems, Open Banking, digital identity, and central bank digital currencies. A crucial step at the heart of the Vision is the creation of the Payments Vision Delivery Committee (PVDC), chaired by the Director General for Financial Services and Financial Stability at HM Treasury (HMT). While challenges remain, the Vision has the potential to re-establish Britain as a global payments leader. Success will depend on sustained focus and decisive execution as the industry progresses through 2025. Our latest perspective from Deloitte's European Centre for Regulatory Strategy can be found below. Suchitra Nair Valeria Gallo Ed Moorby Tom Macdonald Hayley Thompson Deep Patel Mustafa Kanchwala Steve Bailey Isabel Agius James Staight Matt Clarke Clare Jenkinson Ciaran Fitzpatrick Sowmya Ganti Aarti G.

74

Over the past three years, Consumer Duty has been a major focus in the financial services sector, aiming to transform the culture from top to bottom. However, it’s crucial that we ensure established practices remain strong and that we all continue to uphold high standards. Take, for example, the gentleman I observed on a train last week. Despite holding a senior position in his company, he was working on a presentation without a screen protector on his laptop. His presentation included sensitive information such as P&L, year-to-date sales with margins, prospects, pipeline history, marketing indicators, and headcount. This highlights the importance of maintaining security and professionalism at all times. #risk #consumerduty #vulnerability #financialservices #afm #bsa

21

9 Comments

Monzo Bank's former employees request participation in secondary transaction, according to a report. Existing investors, StepStone Group and GIC, will participate as buyers in the sale, that at present is only available to current employees. TS Anil | Gary Hoffman #Secondaries #SecondaryMarket #AlternativeInvestments #PrivateMarkets #Deals #Venture #VentureCapital #VC https://lnkd.in/d4SQjwQ7

6

Very encouraged by HM Treasury's National Payments Vision policy paper published this morning, outlining its ambition for a world-leading payments ecosystem for the UK to drive economic growth and maintain its global leadership in financial services - enabled through tackling regulatory inefficiencies, modernising infrastructure, increasing security and fostering innovation. This resonates very well with the groundbreaking UK Regulated Liability Network (RLN) experimentation phase initiative we at DXC Technology and our partners delivered for UK Finance and 11 of its member institutions in September this year enabling the support of tokenised commercial bank deposits/digital currencies, integrating distributed ledger technology (DLT) with existing payment rails and frameworks like Open Banking/FPS to improve transaction efficiency and combat fraud (e.g. delivery vs payment), increase security and encourage new fintech products. We are excited to keep collaborating with our partners, industry bodies, financial services institutions, regulators and fintechs to contribute to the realization of the National Payments Vision! https://lnkd.in/eGWvMASt #payments #financialservices #innovation #digitaltransfomation #RLN #RegulatedLiabilityNetwork #UKRLN #weareDXC

29

3 Comments

MVP "Launch-Alert” (date TBA Monday 27 May) Three metrics will guide our product roadmap and whether the "Open Finance Ecosystem" we are building for the Banks and their mortgage customers has a net positive impact on the cost of housing, and energy crises (Q-o-Q). 1) Number of Homes quantified (the financial health of our homes digitised); 2) Net reduction in the cost-to-own / run / maintain a home; and 3) Net reduction in the cost of energy bills. For the Banks, a static data approach to products and fragmented retrofitting channels will further fuel the cost of housing crises. It will lead to higher losses on the mortgage book / green loans / household total finance. An Open Data led ecosystem approach, would enable the Banks to shift from "provider of largest debt" to "Home as Experience" based value-add services. In the near-term, personalised one-click energy efficiency upgrades, to households across income levels and community types. #netzero #sustainblefinance #financialinclusion #Openbanking #OpenFinance Department for Business and Trade https://lnkd.in/e2JeJQpt

4

With the waiting over, now is the time to digest the final Basel 3.1 rules. Our detailed analysis will follow later. https://lnkd.in/e45kqJvz https://lnkd.in/eMG6syJf

73

📢 NORTH EAST GRANT FUNDING OPPORTUNITY 📢 Investor Partnerships in digital technologies, North East: Rd 1 UK registered SMEs can apply for grant funding for projects that grow their innovation activities in the digital technologies cluster in North East England (Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and County Durham), alongside investment from selected investor partners. Competition opens: Monday 4 November 2024 Competition closes: Wednesday 11 December 2024 11:00am To apply your business must: ·      be a UK registered micro, small or medium sized business (SME) ·      carry out all of its project work in the UK ·      intend to exploit the results from or in the UK ·      be invited to apply by your investor partner ·      have agreed your proposal with your investor partner before submitting be able to complete the aligned investment before the start of your project, through the issue of new shares or convertible debt ·      have sufficient capital resources to enable you to meet all your project’s eligible costs, including through the grant funding and the aligned investment For all projects, your project must: ·      not start before 1 May 2025 ·      end by 31 December 2026 Your project’s total costs will depend on your research category and must be between; ·      £50,000 and £300,000 for feasibility studies ·      £100,000 and £1 million for industrial research, ·     £250,000 and £2 million for experimental development. The projects will be led by ambitious UK registered micro, small or medium sized businesses (SMEs) who will use the funding to grow their innovation activities in the digital technology cluster in North East England, both during and after the project. The aim of this competition is to provide support for your research and development and access to the capital investment that you need to develop and commercialise your innovations and grow your business. Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, has selected investor partners who have demonstrated the credibility, capability, capacity and appetite to invest in innovative, technology-led businesses in areas that align with our objectives in programme areas. A full list of our investor partners is provided at Innovate UK Investor Partners – UKRI (https://lnkd.in/eXiSfiS3). You will need to gain traction with one of these investor partners before you apply, and you must identify them in your application. For more information about how Ryan can support your application, please do reach out. #grantsfunding #northeastfunding #funding #grants #innovateuk #ukinvestorpartners

6

1 Comment

📊 This report on SME data is becoming a bit of a hot topic this past week. I've been talking with industry partners about it, and there's no doubt of the potential to change the game for SME financing. Whether you're a lender, working in a fintech, or just interested in how small businesses get funded, this report has some eye-opening insights. Here are the key points that stood out for me: ✅Data validation is crucial. While accounting data forms the foundation, cross-referencing multiple sources ensures accuracy and reliability in decision-making. 🏢The core SME market is underserved. Open banking solutions cater to smaller businesses, but 45% of UK market turnover lies in the Commercial Lending sweet spot. Are we missing opportunities? 💡Rethinking data provision models. Instead of lenders building complex in-house solutions or relying solely on open banking, leveraging specialized data aggregators offers a more scalable approach. Thoughts on these findings? How can we better serve the SME lending market? #wegetfinancialdata #SMELending #FinTech #DataDrivenDecisions

15

2 Comments

UK Finance data shows that lending to SMEs by high street banks grew in Q1 2024. Read our Business Finance Review here: https://lnkd.in/eNUKp-AE

10

https://lnkd.in/exXVbXCA In order for Wheatley Group to deliver for our customers, staff and wider communities it is essential that we operate from a strong financial position. We are therefore delighted that today S&P Global has affirmed our credit rating at A+ with a stable outlook. This places us amongst the strongest social housing providers in the UK. Given the pressures facing our customers, it is particularly pleasing to see S&P recognise the "strong affordability levels" for our social rent homes. Additionally, our investment into existing homes and the resultant energy efficiency improvements (c.92% of homes now meet EPC Band C or above) ranks as "more favourable than sector peers". It's a team effort to deliver this strong result, and we look forward to continuing to deliver for our customers. #affordablehousing #sustainability #justtransition

142

4 Comments

Loans from CDFIs help to reduce regional and economic inequalities.  60% of loans to SMEs were in the most disadvantaged areas of the UK. Read more in @resp_finance latest impact report https://lnkd.in/g6QzmxER #RipplesToWaves #BusinessLending #CDFIs 

8

Lending to UK SMEs has fallen by 20% in real terms over the last 10 years. This means a funding gap of 22 billion pounds (US$ 28bn). This directly impacts the growth and productivity of these businesses and consequently the economy. Recently formed #SMEFinanceTaskForce chaired by Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) and supported by Open Banking secretariat released its first report "Smart Data: Improving SME lending to drive economic growth". Report highlighted that increasing access to high-quality data will enable SMEs to expand and receive funding to grow and scale. Data combined with advancements in technology and AI can help 5.5 million SMEs in UK create more jobs and thereby support economic recovery. #smefinance #economicgrowth #accesstofinance

10

Current account customer satisfaction tables are often interesting! No major surprises here, as fintechs Monzo Bank, Starling Bank and Chase do well, as does Nationwide Building Society. With Virgin Money and The Co-operative Bank plc doing badly, I wonder how the takeovers by Nationwide and Coventry Building Societies will impact their performance?

13

4 Comments

The case remains for the Bank of England to start cutting rates With over two decades of experience in financial advisory and asset management, Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group, advocates for the Bank of England to initiate interest rate cuts this summer, despite mixed UK inflation signals. Highlighting the potential benefits such as reduced mortgage payments, increased consumer spending, and stimulated economic growth, Green emphasizes the importance of proactive measures in the current economic climate. His insights underscore the significance of aligning with global trends to maintain competitiveness and foster confidence among businesses and consumers. Join the conversation and share your insights! The case remains for the Bank of England to start cutting rates (investorideas.com)

33

2 Comments

🚀 How can we help secure growth for the UK's 5.6million SMEs? Simply Asset Finance COO Ylva Oertengren recently spoke with Yahoo Finance’s Future Focus to share strategies and solutions for SME growth. From investing in technology and skills to securing flexible, tailored finance solutions, Ylva highlights how partnerships between financial institutions and specialist lenders could help SMEs to spur growth and unlock economic recovery. Watch the full interview to hear more: https://lnkd.in/ews-DbgK #SMEs #BusinessGrowth #FinanceSolutions #SimplyAssetFinance

46

With our continued focus on scaling up businesses, our latest article shines the light on Allica Bank #growth #scaleup #fintech #business #ceo #cfo #entrepreneur

11