On the 12 May 2022 we were joined by guests from across the FinTech ecosystem in Scotland to discuss “Growing FinTech in Scotland”.
The event was kindly hosted by Data Talent Specialists, MBN Solutions, and we were joined by speakers from Fintech Scotland, Access Fitech, and Soar to hear from industry leaders about the challenges and opportunities for building and scaling a FinTech business in Scotland.
The main takeaways from the event included:
1) -The FinTech Scotland Research and Innovation Roadmap will form the industry strategy for the FinTech sector here for the next 10 years, with a focus on 4 key areas; Financial Regulation, Payments & Transactions, Open Finance Data, Climate Finance.
2) -There is no room for complacency from the cluster – Scotland must continue to push forward with more research, collaboration and innovation to continue the growth of the sector and to make Scotland the first choice destination for anyone who wants to scale up a Fintech business.
3) -There are still many challenges facing the industry, none more so than attracting and retaining talent. Small FinTech firms need to give consideration to how they can compete with larger financial institutions who are now starting to hire inhouse teams for their technology projects.
MBN Solutions 112 West George Street Glasgow G2 1PN
Andrew DuncanCEO, SoarAndrew is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for technology. In 2011 he founded SwarmOnline, a software house focusing on mobile and web applications. He organically grew Swarm from his living room to offices in Glasgow & Edinburgh with over 25 employees serving some of the UK’s largest companies. Following on from this, Andrew formed Glasgow based Fintech, Soar, in 2017. In addition to his entrepreneurial achievements, Andrew is an author, having written two technical textbooks used all over the world by developers. His credentials have earned him some top speaking slots at conferences across Europe and the USA and he regularly takes to the stage in the UK.
Pardeep CassellsHead of Securities and Claims ProductsPardeep is Head of Securities and Claims products, focused on the creation and rollout of new securities products for the finance sector against the core AccessFintech platform. Before joining AccessFintech, Par’s experience was predominately in outsourced middle office operations where she gained cross-product experience in operational, relationship management and project management roles.
Mickael ParisMarketing Director at Fintech ScotlandMickael Paris is Marketing Director at FinTech Scotland. He was part of the team that launched the company in January 2018. Mickael has over 15 years experience working for both start-ups and FTSE100 companies including Maxymiser, Skyscanner and Standard Life. He joined At FinTech Scotland Mickael focuses on developing the profile of the SME community and the Scottish fintech cluster locally and globally. He’s also responsible for creating bridges with international fintech hubs, encouraging inward investment as well as helping Scottish firms export. In 2015 he was featured in the BIMA100 list of marketing influencers as well as the Marketing Magazine NextGen Power 100.
Aastha Ahuja
Ian Davey
