In the bustling and vibrant heart of London’s financial technology scene, the FinTech Innovation Lab London is set to host its much-anticipated Interview Week for FIL 2024. This year, following an overwhelming response of over 300 applications, FIL welcomes the top 15% of applicants selected in collaboration with its Financial Institution Partners.
Operating with European breadth and depth, these finalists hail from 15 countries, bringing with them a wealth of diverse perspectives, driving innovation across a range of 8 Stream focus areas: Inclusive Tech; Security & Cloud; RegTech; Future Tech; Sustainability; Open Finance and Data & AI.
Testament to FIL’s ongoing commitment to gender diversity and inclusion in the tech sphere, 41% of FinTechs invited to Interview Week boast one or more female founders. Furthermore, demonstrating the value of the programme to the ecosystem, 63% of candidates were referred by Partners, mentors and alumni.
Stay tuned for the latest Stream spotlights and insights from Interview Week.
Kicking off an exhilarating week, FIL 2024 Interview Day #1 is Inclusive Tech….
Inclusive Tech: The FinTech revolution for socially responsible financial wellbeing
The global FinTech sector is a significant force for good across productivity, security, inclusion, environmental and social responsibility. In the UK, 97% of the FinTech sector demonstrates medium or high positive impact when assessed against the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Financial Wellbeing has been elevated to a topic of board level discussion within Financial Services
In recent years, Financial Wellbeing has been elevated to a topic of board level discussion within Financial Services, not only due to the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, but also the growing emphasis on socially responsible business. According to the FCA’s Financial Lives Survey, nearly 1 in 4 UK adults have low levels of financial literacy. This has brought a long-overdue focus on financial literacy, better money management and ensuring that offerings deliver value to all customer segments.
Whilst some forward-thinking businesses are re-imagining their purpose and are moving away from a transactional way of thinking to one that is more human-centred, many have not, and as such run the risk of falling foul of customer expectations and the FCA’s Consumer Duty and guidance on vulnerable customers. We believe that the regulatory landscape provides businesses with an opportunity to reset their approach to delivering value to their customers and FinTech will play a key role in enabling this.
Similarly, there is growing market demand for more inclusive and socially conscious organisations. Market data shows 84% of companies report that incorporating ESG into business practices has improved their ability to raise investment funds, highlighting the pressing need to create solutions and therefore the opportunity for FinTech.
Now is the time for the FinTech sector to accelerate the transformation of our industry towards supporting a growing population of customers whose concerns increasingly focus on inclusivity, social responsibility and wellbeing.
Now is the time for the FinTech sector to accelerate the transformation of our industry towards supporting a growing population of customers whose concerns increasingly focus on inclusivity, social responsibility and wellbeing in the current environment. We are excited to explore how the 2024 FIL candidates address these hugely pertinent challenges and enable businesses to deliver better customer outcomes.
Sean Madhi, Song Managing Director and Customer SME, Accenture