North West FinTech Forum Write-Up
On the 1st of October the Northern FinTech community came together at Barclays’ Radbroke Campus for the North West Fintech Forum, hosted in partnership with Rise, created by Barclays, for an insightful half-day of content.
In addition to being a grand site with a fascinating history, the Radbroke Campus is Barclays’ largest technology site and a critical tech hub, both in the UK and globally. What better place to host a North West focussed FinTech event than at the heart of the bank’s technology and operations?
Introductions to FinTech North and Rise, Created by Barclays
Following the morning networking session, Joe Roche, FinTech North’s General Manager kickstarted the content by introducing FinTech North, and providing some background around working with banks, commending their collaborative attitude in their support of and integration into the FinTech ecosystem. He then provided a North West FinTech overview, referencing the regions specialisms, funding landscape, rich academic resources and the number of FinTech organisations operating out of the region.
Next to the stage was Clare Whitehead, FinTech and Open Innovation Scout at Rise, Created by Barclays. Clare spoke on her extensive experience working at Barclays, now working as part of the Group Innovation & Partnerships team.
She provided an overview of Barclay’s Rabroke Campus, which is their largest office in the UK with 6.5k colleagues operating out of the space. She highlighted the significance of their ‘always on mentality’ in their massive presence in the UK financial infrastructure.
She expanded on Barclays innovation and partnership strategy, noting that ‘Rise is the tip of the iceberg,’ of their suite of capabilities, which propels the pipeline of FinTech ideation to production. She made reference to some Rise success stories in enabling FinTech growth, including their work with ApTap, SparkChange, and Cutover.
Innovation and Growth at Barclays
Lilly Chatwin, DiSH Ecosystem Manager at Barclays spoke next on DiSH, Barclays’ Digital Security Hub in Manchester. She explained that DiSH is a cyber-security focussed lab which aims to create innovation and growth in the space, help organisations to scale and enter the ecosystem, as well as support the creation and retention of jobs in Manchester and greater Manchester.
Following Lilly was a panel titled ‘Customer Centric Development and Big Tech Transformation at Barclays,’ with Barclays tech experts:
- Clare Whitehead, Group Innovation & Partnerships at Barclays
- Amy Williams, MD & Cloud Services Product Lead at Barclays
- Nathan Agius, Principal Engineer: Digital Platforms at Barclays
- James Higgins, CIO Business Bank at Barclays
Nathan emphasised the importance of digital customer-centricity, especially in the wake of COVID-19, as he took over the mobile app during that period. His focus was on ensuring features are digital-centric and fit for purpose, reacting quickly to evolving needs. He highlighted the need to hear the voice of the digital customer and drive personalisation in services, adding value through loyalty and rewards programs. Nathan also touched on the role of partnerships, particularly with FinTechs in improving transactionality and creating experiments like Launchpad, an app allowing customers to test new features like digital receipts and loyalty programs. The emphasis was on learning from past expertise and making leadership a safe space for innovation.
Amy, with expertise in project and program management, infrastructure, and Cloud Services, shared insights on the evolution of cloud technology. She discussed workload placement and polycloud systems, stressing the healthy competition in the field. However, she acknowledged the ongoing challenges in balancing cost, functionality, and regulation. Amy also noted the limitations of public cloud services due to legal and compliance requirements. In terms of customer experience, she emphasised that as transformed services are offered, usability, resilience, and decision-making based on business needs become central. She ended by reflecting on how to make the customer experience something the team would be proud to showcase externally.
James, the CIO of Barclays Business Banking (BB) discussed the importance of partnerships in shaping the future of Barclays Business Banking. He noted that partnerships already shape the present, as Barclays curates an ecosystem of products and capabilities through partnerships with FinTechs who are keen to own intellectual property around integrations. Rather than choosing between building or buying, the focus is on adaptability and flexibility, aligning with Barclays’ values.
Clare noted the collaboration with Fintech Scotland’s Financial Regulation Innovation Lab, where banks and FinTechs come together to address challenges. James emphasised that working at a tier 1 bank like Barclays offers immense opportunities, but progress is key; the only wrong decision is standing still. James shared his excitement about emerging technologies, regulations, and personalisation, noting that the industry is anchored around data, which isn’t being fully utilised yet. He stressed the importance of using data to serve customers better and support their financial wellbeing. Finally, James discussed the trickle-down effect from retail to business banking, focusing on how hyper-personalisation and digital capabilities can enhance productivity in the B2B sector.
Together, the panellists provided a comprehensive view of how Barclays is working with FinTechs leveraging data, evolving cloud capabilities, and enhancing customer experience through partnerships and digital innovations.
Next, Matt Squire, the CTO and Co-Founder of Fuzzy Labs, shared insights on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in various industries, with a particular focus on opportunities and risks within the FinTech sector. Matt emphasised that his team’s learnings from customer projects in other sectors can be applied to FinTech, especially in machine learning (ML) and AI integration.
Matt highlighted a specific case study involving a large hardware company that faced a business challenge: how to better engage with companies using their platform. The solution involved employing a large language model to surface information in a more accessible way. The company had an enormous amount of content—around 3 billion words—and needed an AI system capable of filtering and addressing relevant questions while ensuring that these questions were on-topic. The task required developing a scalable, secure, and public-facing solution that could be operated and expanded over time. His team worked closely with the company, ensuring that the system not only met their immediate needs but could also be handed over for long-term self-sufficiency.
Security around large language models was a central theme in Matt’s presentation. He shared details about an ongoing research-focused project with a national security partner, aimed at understanding how hackers might exploit these models. While generative AI (GenAI) has sparked a lot of excitement, Matt emphasised the significant risks involved, particularly the potential for bad actors to exploit AI systems.
In the FinTech space, Matt outlined both the risks and opportunities associated with AI. On the risks side, he pointed out the potential for AI to be exploited by fraudsters, especially when guardrails are in place but not foolproof. Bad actors could use AI to obscure fraudulent or illegal activities. On the opportunities side, Matt noted how AI and machine learning can benefit fintech by enabling pattern recognition, anomaly detection, and making sense of large datasets. AI can also assist in building and navigating knowledge graphs, which are essential for managing and interpreting vast amounts of information.
Overall, Matt’s presentation underscored the dual nature of AI in FinTech: while it offers transformative opportunities in data analysis and security, it also presents considerable challenges in managing risks and protecting against potential misuse.
North West FinTech Perspectives
Following a networking break, Joe Roche moderated a fireside chat featuring Nicola Weedall, Founder of Hydr, and Alex Mackenzie, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Ryft, focussing on “North West Founder Stories.” The discussion covered key topics, ranging from entrepreneurship journeys to the challenges of growing fintech businesses in the north of the UK.
Joe kicked off the conversation by asking the panellists to introduce themselves and share what stage their business is currently at.
Nicola began by discussing her experience with invoice financing at Hydr, explaining that they have facilitated £25 million worth of financing, with an average invoice size of £2,500 spread across 9,000 transactions. Hydr’s focus is on the underserved market of SMEs, and Nicola mentioned that the company currently has four employees.
Alex then provided some background on his organisation, sharing that Ryft, which deals with payments, has grown to 24 employees and secured Series A funding. The company emerged during the pandemic, which, along with Brexit, created opportunities for FinTechs to step in and address gaps in the market.
Nicola spoke about her approach to building a business—improving something, achieving success, and eventually moving it on. Alex reflected on his entrepreneurial journey, noting that his family background was entrepreneurial, and he shared how he met his co-founder. Nicola also highlighted the importance of networking, particularly for female entrepreneurs, and the need for support in this area.
The panellists touched on work-life balance, with Nicola stressing the importance of “switching off” and Joe referring to it as a work-life “blend.” The conversation also moved to the challenges of raising money in the North. Alex shared his experience of spending over nine months in search of funding, engaging in thousands of conversations, and eventually setting his location to London to increase engagement with national and international organisations based on the perception that more opportunities exist there.
Alex discussed the inherent disadvantage of raising money as a northern start-up. An audience question was then raised about what could be done to change the narrative, to which he responded, emphasising the need to showcase the North’s talent and tech companies despite the region not having the same scale as the South.
When asked about AI, both Nicola and Alex acknowledged its potential in their businesses. Nicola shared that Hydr’s processes are fully digital, and while they are not financially backed to incorporate AI yet, they are keen to use it for predicting outcomes once investment allows. Alex noted that Ryft is already using AI to detect anomalies in transactions, which has helped reduce fraud. However, he was cautious, explaining that they don’t want AI to make decisions but rather to delay decisions so that human oversight can still play a role.
The discussion then shifted to the main challenges the founders face. Nicola pointed out the difficulty in finding the right people to join a startup, noting the expectation of high salaries, and the challenge of sourcing talent with the right drive and passion who are also ready for the startup environment. Alex added that building team culture and leadership, along with managing realistic expectations, was emotionally challenging. He stressed that not every day is positive, and this attitude can impact the wider team.
The conversation concluded with a question from the audience about how banks can be better partners to fintechs. Both Nicola and Alex advocated for better collaboration, suggesting that fintechs can help banks address specific problems. They noted that while many fintechs aim to sell to a bank or large financial services company, this rarely happens. Breaking the norm and engaging in more meaningful conversations with banks could lead to better partnerships and solutions.
Closing the content for the day was Robyn Demming, Senior Relationship Manager at Raisin, who provided a forward-looking overview of the UK deposit market, touching on key factors shaping the environment. She began by discussing Raisin’s savings platform before outlining the current economic context. In terms of the UK deposit environment, Robyn noted movements in central banks, including the ECB and Bank of England (BoE), with an anticipated decrease in rates expected in November and into the following year. While inflation may see a temporary rise, there is only minor economic growth forecasted. Robyn highlighted that the UK is no longer in a recession, and unemployment rates are stabilising, adding to more optimistic predictions for the near future.
Regarding the UK savings market, Robyn discussed the impact of the new Consumer Duty regulation, which focuses on ensuring good customer outcomes. This regulation puts pressure on banks to offer fair value and pass on competitive rates to customers. Banks are benefiting from increased inflows, with market narratives suggesting that customers are locking in rates that may not be available much longer.
There has also been a noticeable change in customer behaviour, with growing interest in fixed-term savings products. Stress events, such as economic uncertainty, have impacted customer confidence, leading more customers to seek out savings products on Raisin’s platform.
Looking ahead, Robyn predicted a challenging environment with a decrease in rates but a continued need for funding. Banks may need to find alternative ways to secure funding, with building societies showing increased interest in diversifying their funding sources. She also pointed out that the range of financial institutions in the market is changing, driven by a strong demand for funding.
As the content drew to a conclusion, delegates came together for a vibrant lunch and networking session to connect and discuss the valuable insights shared by the industry experts of the North West.
