Ep. 230. 11FS Presents One Fintech Nation - Fintech for Good

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SK:  Hello, and welcome to One Fintech Nation, in partnership with Tech Nation. I'm Sarah Kocianski, and today, we're bringing you the third in our four-part series, showcasing the UK fintech scene. If you've missed parts one and two, go back and listen to Episodes 226 and 228 of Fintech Insider, to get up to date. We are bursting the London fintech bubble, and talking about UK fintech successes across the nation.

Last episode, we looked at the UK as a fintech hotspot on the international stage. This episode, we're digging a bit deeper, and looking at the problems and issues fintech is aiming to fix. So, how can fintech really make a difference to customers across the UK? What about the underserved sectors of society, who find money management hard, and who have, so far, had little exposure to fintech? Internationally, the UK is ranked ninth in the world in terms of banking inclusion by the World Bank, and 1.5 million adults remain unbanked in Britain today, meaning they do not have a bank account of any kind, that equates to around 1 in 33, and interestingly, only about half of these actually want an account. 

Financial literacy is also a growing concern, as one in five can't understand a bank statement, and around half of people with a basic bank account choose to manage their money in cash only. Savings, or lack thereof, are also worrying, as the UK saves less than almost any other country in the EU. Only 41% of British households are regularly saving, and of the remaining 59%, 24% have no savings at all. There are 13 million people in the UK who do not have enough savings to support them for one month, if they were to experience a 25% cut in income. This issue is compounded by the fact that an estimated 49 to 64% of households in the UK hold some form of unsecured credit. And all this leads to financial vulnerability, insecurity and stress. Around 31% of the population are reckoned to have at least one sign of financial stress. These are some pretty damning stats, so how can fintech start to tackle this?

GM:  I think there's a wide recognition of the fact that fintech can have a very positive impact on financial inclusion and financial capability, and this is what we were trying to demonstrate, with the competition that we ran last year, called Fintech For All, uh, which meant to shine a light, and award fintech companies that were active in those, uh, fields.

SK:  This is Greg Michel, Fintech and Insurtech Lead at Tech Nation.

GM:  If you look at fintech companies, the one thing that they are doing, which is amazing, is they are very much focusing on the customer, on understanding this customer, what their pain points are, and what solutions can be brought to alleviate those pain points. And so, in financial inclusion, and in financial capability, this is what we are seeing, as well. We are seeing entrepreneurs that are very much in tune with the needs of their customers, who very much try and understand what it means to not have access to financial services, or, indeed, to not really understand their financial statement. 

So here, the value proposition that we're seeing is very much companies that are trying to understand these clients, that are targeting these clients as main clients, and not as the clients that you must have, uh, because the government is bashing you on the head to say, "Yes, you must provide a bank account that is accessible to everyone." So, the key difference here is, fintech companies that are focusing on this particular segment are more in tune with what the clients really want, how they feel excluded, how to include them, and how to make them more capable.

SK:  Creating a business around customers and their needs, making customers more capable, in Greg's words, and to upskill them, to use and manage their money with greater confidence, seems to be the rallying point for a lot of fintechs. Customer-centricity and real-world problem solving is key, as fintechs carve out niches for themselves, in a bid to acquire customers. Often, they do this by initially focusing on solving a specific problem, for a specific demographic or segment of customers. We spoke to a number of fintech CEOs and Founders across the UK, to find out their particular niche markets, and strategies for enabling their customers to have better relationships with their money. This is Virraj Jatania, CEO and Founder of Pockit, a digital bank account that's focused on serving the underbanked.

VJ:  The numbers are pretty insane, so you have 2 billion people globally, who are outside of mainstream banking and financial services. That number's about 165 million across Europe, 100 million in the US, you know, a few hundred million in India, a few hundred million in China, so every large country, economic bloc, uh, continent, has a major issue when it comes to this-, to this challenge, and, uh, I was amazed that no one was really trying to-, trying to build a digital bank, to focus on solving the problems of this consumer segment.

And so, you know, being, kind of, from an entrepreneurial background, I just felt that this was a huge problem, and it needed solving, and so decided to take on solving that problem. So, by the time we built our product-, it took us about the best part of a year, and so then we launched in September 2014.

So, we now have about 300,000 customers, um, in the UK, or a bit more than that, we're, you know, probably signing up about 20,000 new customers every month, so growing pretty fast. And a lot of our customers will fall in to a lower-income demographic, so they are typically earning £30,000 as a household income or below, and they are, you know, often in-, either self-employed, or temporary employment, or very blue collar associated jobs, and so, as a result of that, about 85% of our customers are outside of the London or southeast part-, region of the country. 

So, we're a London fintech, in that we're based in Soho, but a lot of our customers are actually, um, across the whole of the country and-, and-, and especially strongholds in, you know, parts of the northwest of the country, northeast, up-, you know, uh, further north, in Scotland. So we have quite a spread base, and, you know, we have a pretty equal split between male and female in-, in the base, um, and in terms of, sort of, employment, as I-, as I mentioned, some are, sort of, self-employed, some are employment, some might even be on benefits. So we kind of really cater across-, across the board.

Yeah, sure. So, our-, our thesis around, um, the financially underserved consumer segment is that, you know, their alternatives are really, really poor. Um, so prior to us, most of our customers would turn to payday lenders, doorstep lenders, cheque cashing shops, you know, where they pay, like, 12% to convert a cheque in to cash, cash money transfer services, like Western Union and MoneyGram, where they're spending 7 to 12% to send money back home, you know, so really, really poor offline, opaque offerings. And they are not really the target of mainstream banks, or the incumbent banks, they're not really interested in them, they're not really set up to service them, their cost bases are too high, their technology is pretty dated, and that makes it very expensive to-, to service this group of customers, and therefore makes it unprofitable, and therefore, you know, it's not-, it's not of real interest. 

And so, our thesis was, effectively, if there's so many people who need access to mainstream financial services but are not getting them, because of all these problems, then it makes a lot of sense to-, to-, to-, to take on and-, and-, and-, and take on that challenge, and build something that can cater for this segment of customers.

And then the second thing that, for us, was really important, was that, the group of customers that we service, and that we cater for, don't, really, as a result, have, kind of, better alternatives, and so you become a very important part of their day-to-day life, and so, you know, for most of our customers, we are-, we are their primary account, and their primary way, when they think about, what-, whether they need a loan, or they need to send money home, or they need to build their credit history, or whatever it is, their first thought is Pockit, because that's what they know, and that's what they-, and that's who's kind of given them a chance, in-, in those-, in maybe a difficult time, or whatever it might be. 

And so that's a big part of-, for us, from a business perspective, it's really about owning that long-term relationship, because that's what we believe then allows us to become the central financial platform to that customer, in their life, across all their needs, when it comes to-, to financial services, and we just don't think there are enough people trying to take on this problem. It's a-, globally, a 2 billion-people problem, um, and you could probably count on one hand the companies that are seriously impacting it, and so that's where we think there's just a huge opportunity.

RT:  Yeah, we're working really hard to try and, uh, educate people, generally, about, you know, finances, and investing in general. You know, we see Wealthify, perhaps, as the first step on the journey for people coming in to investing, where it's all done for them, without the fuss and the hassle, we call it "effortless investing", really. And we try to educate people through the-, the content on our website, and through the newsletters that we send out, so that, progressively, they feel more and more confident with finances and investing. 

SK:  This is Richard Theo, CEO and Founder of Wealthify, and Fintech Envoy for Wales.

RT:  We see the enemy of our business as the inertia that is within the, kind of, consumer financial system in the UK, and what that means is, people just tend to go on doing the same old thing they're used to. And in Britain, in the case of saving and investing, that is leaving their money in a bank savings account or a cash ISA, where it earns paltry amounts of interest, in fact, less interest than the inflation rate, substantially. So, in real terms, they're-, they're putting their nest egg away, and it's going down in value, and it's the inertia, and the lack of financial literacy that stops them being able to go out and find a, sort of, solution that would give them a better return on their money.

AK:  So, at AccessPay, uh, we focus on basically helping finance and treasury professionals free up time, and also, we want to help them make better decisions, and kind of reduce fraud and errors, around both payments and cash management.

SK:  This is Anish Kapoor, CEO of AccessPay, which, unlike the consumer-focused approaches we've seen so far, focuses on the underserved B2B market. It offers advice to small and medium-sized businesses, on the best ways to access finance, banking services, and payments integrations.

AK:  The reason we exist, if you like, is-, is to fill a gap in the market that's grown up because, over the last 20 or 30 years, as, um-, as banks have developed their, kind of, uh, online banking portals, for-, well, actually, for businesses of all sizes, those banking portals are designed to, uh, make the bank's life easier, uh, they're not designed to actually make life easier for, uh, the-, the business customer. So-, so, if you kind of put yourself in the shoes of-, of-, of the-, the business customer, you know, what is it they want? Well, actually, what they want is, they want, kind of, complete integration with their, um, existing systems that they've purchased, so their accounting systems, payroll systems, treasury systems, what have you. They don't want to have to come out of those systems and then go in to the online banking portal, to actually make payments, or see how much cash they've got.

Yeah, so, I-, it's interesting. A lot of what we do, or a lot of what our-, our-, our sales teams and-, and-, and, sort of, professional services teams do, is, uh, we end up in, uh, sort of helping customers, and-, and actually, it-, you know, so it-, it-, it may be that we don't actually we-, we don't try and rush in, to just kind of selling, you know, our platform to-, to potential customers. What we start with is a conversation about, kind of, "What is it you're trying to achieve? Where are you trying to go?" You know, um, "What-, what are your business needs?" And, therefore, "What is it you actually need?" And-, and part of that is, sometimes educating that potential customer as to actually, what-, what all the options are for them in the market. 

Um. And-, and a lot of the time, we're kind of doing the job that the bank should be doing, but the bank isn't doing, because the-, the issue that the banks have got is that they've, kind of, reduced headcount so much, that-, that, particularly at the kind of small business end, they just haven't got enough people who really understand even the products the bank has got, let alone the products that are out there in the wider market, or even where the market is going.

SK:  This is Stephen Ingledew, CEO of Fintech Scotland.

SI:  So, Fintech Scotland has been created, really, to take the opportunities that there is around innovation, collaborating across financial services, technology and wider society, and taking an inclusive approach, to actually reinvent financial services, uh, in Scotland, uh, but also globally. And what you've already got in Scotland is a thriving, quite vibrant fintech community, across all aspects, from regtech, through to payments, through to customer engagement, and data platforms, and artificial intelligence. What we're doing is pulling all of those strengths together, to really leverage that, and pull it together as a team, to play on the-, on the global stage.

Yes, I think fintech is actually making two main differences. One, it's reaching out to those parts of the community where financial services, and the products, they've been excluded from, so it's all about inclusion, those that have been left out, or often, left with products that are inappropriate, or very expensive. So, that, sort of, enabling everyone to benefit from the importance of the right financial products and services to meet their needs going forward.

The second area about inclusivity is around actually becoming a much more diverse sector in the people employed. Yes, there's an important role, still, for actuaries and accountants, and even lawyers, but actually, it's broadening out to those with technology expertise, expertise around data, human anthropologists, psychologists, and people with a more breadth of skills, that actually can relate as much to the human need, as it does to the role of technology as an enabler, and I think that's what's really important. The diversity aspect is really important. That's why, from a Scotland point of view, we take a very international approach, in terms of our talent and our people, and then look to see how we meet the needs, from an inclusive point of view, of consumers globally.

SK:  We're used to hearing about how fintech focuses on inclusivity for its customers, but Stephen also highlighted that fintech, as an industry, and as an employer, is also inclusive. Gone are the days when finance was straight-laced bankers in suits, who only ever worked in banks. Fintech is embracing other skillsets, expertise, and backgrounds in its workforce, all of which add up to this more human touch than perhaps traditional financial firms can muster.

Finally, we spoke to Jonathan Hollow, Head of Financial Capability, Strategy and Innovation at the Money Advice Service. The Money Advice Service is a government-funded organisation which provides free financial advice to UK consumers, such as everyday money management and debt advice, either online or over the phone, six days a week. As a representative of an organisation sitting outside the fintech bubble, and one focused on advising the financially excluded, vulnerable, underbanked, or those who generally struggle with money management, we asked him for his impartial view on fintech. Is fintech really making an impact, and improving the lives of customers, as it claims to be?

JH:  I mean, I would say, at a high level, fintech is having a big positive impact, and then there's another impact that may be more negative. Uh, in the positive way, it's helping people to become much more engaged with their money. Um. For example, people can look on their smartphones and they can access their balance, almost instantly, whereas before, in the world of paper, that would have been a much more protracted process. They can save small amounts very easily. They can experience interactions with money, in ways that are more fun, and more game-like. So I think it's helping people to-, to get more engaged with money.

However, fintech is also reducing the friction between the desire, and actually spending, and it's making money invisible. Spending is literally at the touch of a button, no trip to the cashpoint, no fumbling for the chequebook, no fiddling around with coins. So that friction can have, uh, negative effects, for people who, maybe in previous days would have used that friction as a form of self-control. So, I think we're really interested in both sides of the equation, when we look at fintech, but we think that, by and large, it has much more potential for good than for ill.

SK:  We're used to hearing how frictionless finance, access to credit, and/or easy ways to make payments is one of the best things about fintech, but this ease of access can actually make it easier for those who are financially vulnerable to get themselves in to more debt. Interestingly, this is something that's being addressed, by both Starling and Monzo, with their stop gambling features. In this case, customers can easily turn on a feature that prevents them from making any gambling-related transaction from their accounts, but if they want to reverse the feature, they have to go through a complex, friction-filled process, that is designed to ensure they are really ready to reinstate access to gambling. Listen to Fintech Insider Episode 227, the Pulse Takeover, for more on this.

Whatever your view, all these products and services are all well and good, but only if they do what they are supposed to do, and, more importantly, if customers are actually using them. Fintech, as we've already seen in this series, can sometimes be in danger of creating its own echo chamber of self-congratulation, whether that's on a regional scale, such as the London bubble, or in its use of technology, that could end up alienating certain customers in certain demographics. As such, is fintech actually solving some of the biggest problems in finance, if the products aren't being used? Or rather, if only the financially savvy, or those already within the fintech sector, are using them. Is fintech actually missing a mark, if the undeserved and financially vulnerable are still left outside?

GM:  So, I am Greg Michel, and I am the Fintech Lead at Tech Nation. I think this is an incredibly good and pertinent question. I think there is, still, in consumer behaviour, quite a bit of, let's say, not reluctance, but a certain circumspection around using fintech solutions. The-, the reason for that is, as well, that the established banks, so the incumbents, have become much better, in terms of engaging with their customers, and also, to provide applications, for example, online banking, to their existing customers, meaning that, right now, actually, if you go on the app store, you will see that the Monzo app, or the Starling app, is rated pretty much exactly the same as the HSBC app, or the Barclays, or the Lloyds Banking Group. 

So, incumbents have very much stepped their game up, because they saw that this is-, this was a very strong draw. So, if you're in the regions, and if you are not necessarily aware of all these fintech solutions, you can still benefit from a very good fintech experience, simply because your bank is now providing you a much better experience. So, that is, I think, one of the elements.

SI:  Well, there's two aspects around adoption. The adoption, uh, can apply where the fintechs, uh, work very closely with existing financial institutions who have a particular issue or problem with reaching parts of the community. So, the consumers are there, to gain access. The new technology, and the different way of engaging consumers, using data, is available, particularly from an artificial intelligence or an analytics point of view, and therefore, working in collaboration is the best way to get that broader reach, and therefore the trust.

Hello, I'm Stephen Ingledew, I'm the Chief Executive of Fintech Scotland. Having said that, there are some successful enterprises who have become, kind of, engaging with consumers on a broader basis, because they're presenting the way you manage money in a better way, a better understanding, rather than it being seen as a-, a product sell, or a product push, which financial services, in the past, has been accused of, and understandably so. So, if we can move away from that pushing and selling, sometimes inappropriate products, to much more related to needs, that's where some fintechs are becoming very successful.

JH:  We divided the, um-, the adult population of the UK in to three main groups. We call them the struggling people, the squeezed people, and the cushioned people. I'm Jonathan Hollow, I'm the Head of Financial Capability, Strategy and Innovation, at the Money Advice Service. The cushioned are fairly easy to deal with. I mean, they are about 25 million adults, and they've either got enough money, or they've got the right skills to help them, so that if things go wrong, and they experience a financial shock, they'll be pretty well cushioned from it.

The other two groups are really at-, a focal point for us, because we think that-, that's where the need lies. There are around-, round numbers, 12 million people in what we call the struggling group. They are mostly living in social housing, they're more likely to be unemployed or on benefits than other groups in society, and they're on very low incomes, and they have very low levels, or non-existent levels of savings, or high levels of debt, so they're very, um, likely to be buffeted by a financial shock.

And then the squeezed group is also an interesting group, that's about 13 million people, who are on average incomes, they're living in mortgaged or private rented accommodation, and they have very, very low levels of savings, often about £500 in the bank, and yet they've often got a family, um, they've got rent or mortgage commitments, so they're one or two paycheques away from really serious financial difficulty. 

And that group, I think, is particularly interesting for us, in terms of thinking who falls through the system, because the struggling group do have access to state support and state benefits, and that's not a perfect system, but it exists. The squeezed group are often in the, kind of, middle of their working life, with lots of commitments, but very little to fall back on, so they're a group we particularly focus on, and we feel the system, as a whole isn't working for them.

My view is, no, there isn't a trust issue, uh, between banks and customers which results in a-, a lack of financial literacy. I think there is a relationship between, um, complexity of products and trust. If people feel they understand products, the level of trust is high. I think there may be an issue with a lack of trust in the financial system as a whole, because providers of services in the financial system are winning the war, if you like. If there's a war between the provider and the consumer, where information and the complexity of terms and conditions is on one side, and the consumer is on the other, the providers are always gonna win, because they understand the regulations, and they understand the conditions under which they can offer these products.

So I think that is a difficult thing in the system, but I also think there is a tremendous problem with lack of engagement with consumers, there's the fact that consumers do not think it's cool to talk about money, or to be good at managing money, so I think there are lots of things on the consumer side that are as much a challenge as what is coming out of the banks and the financial services system.

SK:  Technology alone can only go so far. Trust is also a huge factor. Since the 2008 financial crisis, trust in banks remains low, and often, the underbanked or unbanked have chosen to manage their money themselves, because they don't have trust in the financial system. Fintechs are aiming to improve this, with easy-to-use, easy-to-understand products and services, whether that's an app, with excellent UX design, or just simplified and digestible terms and conditions, that aim to inform rather than intimidate.

However, sometimes people operate under a better-the-devil-you-know mindset, and prefer to stick with their traditional bank, or no bank, despite their issues, rather than try an unknown entity. This can be an issue for fintechs, given low customer numbers compared to the big banks is their biggest challenge. So, how do they make people aware of them, and how do they get people to trust them enough to use them as the alternative? And how do they make sure they're getting their products in to the hands of the right sort of customer? Every fintech has a different approach to this, as they grow their individual brands, and carve out their particular market niches, and Tech Nation has a programme which aims to help them on their way.

GM:  So, the Fintech Delivery Panel was created at the back of 2016, and it's on the back of a mandate by the Treasury, to create a body that would assemble both incumbents, fintech entrepreneurs, and the larger fintech ecosystem, together with Treasury and the regulator, the FCA. And the idea of this group is to both identify and deliver, and it-, it is in its name, Fintech Delivery Panel. So it's not a thinktank. It's a "dotank".

Our agenda is subdivided in different working groups. At the moment, the ones that are, uh, the most prominent, are onboarding standards, how do we make sure that companies, large financial companies, can onboard fintech, or, indeed, any other companies that want to partner with them, quicker than what they are doing now, workflow is still very slow, at the moment. We have transferrable digital ideas, how do people transfer their idea from one company to the next, as smoothly as possible? We have initiatives around talent and skills, around access to capital. 

And then last, but certainly not least, how do we make sure that the insurtech community also benefits from support, and are also recognised? So, the working group here is called the Insurtech Board, and it's basically composed in the same way as the Fintech Delivery Panel. It is incumbents, it is the most prominent fintech entrepreneurs, and the government, as well, under the form of Treasury.

SK:  Awareness, and market share, is one thing, but the final piece of the financial inclusion puzzle is financial literacy. How can fintechs not only help customers manage their money better, but also want to manage it better, as well? Education is hugely important here. Whether that's education of customers, or education in the broader community, such as in schools or universities, it all goes to upskilling society, to better understand how financial products, such as credit cards, interest rates, APR percentiles, pensions, credit scores, etc., work, and how to manage our money with confidence.

GM:  If you look now at the propositions that are in the market, it's all about education. It's making sure that the customers really understand what they're doing. There is a fair bit of jargon going on now in financial services, it makes it very difficult for certain people to understand, in fact, for the majority of us, and getting rid of that jargon, making sure that the experience is also conducive for people to understand, making sure that their financial statements are clear, that their transactions are clear, that the costs are also communicated in a clear and transparent way, all contribute to that, um, financial inclusion and capability. 

JH:  Absolutely, yes, education is a very important part of it. But I think the important thing to say is that we spend money with our feelings, and not with our brains, or our heads, so although education is necessary, I don't think it's sufficient, for people to take better control of their money. A lot of it is about changing people's attitudes, their motivations, and also, in some cases, giving them nudges, or choices, that they wouldn't otherwise have, so that it's easier for them to make simple and better decisions.

AK:  So, an awful lot of it is actually about, sort of, educating the customer to, kind of, say, "Hey, did you know you can do this? Did you know you can do that? Did you know that, actually, you can get this from your own bank?" And sometimes, they will go and talk to their bank, and they'll say, "I spoke to my bank, and my bank said I can't-, I can't get that product," and we'll say to them, "Well, you can, it's just that your Relationship Manager doesn't understand that you can get that, so you need to go speak to someone else in the bank. 

RT:  I'm really interested, it's a longer-term project this one, and it's a bit broader than our business, or fintech, but I-, I'm-, I think that the academic sector, the schools, need to get much more, uh, proactive in teaching. So, I mean, it would be so easy for-, for example, for a school teacher to take a module, and teach a child how to calc-, what a mortgage is, and how interest would be calculated. What an interest rate worked out-, compound interest. So, a number-, a number of these things, you know, that would help people, sort of, understand the things they see in the media, and when they hear people talking about finances, that they don't currently understand, or they don't feel confident.

 And just talking through different products, um, you know, what are ISAs, um, that kind of thing, or how does a pension work? Why do we need a pension? Um. What-, you know, a little bit about, kind of, the-, the tax incentives that are available, and why putting money aside, using different tax wrappers, like ISAs and pensions, is-, is a much more effective way of planning your long-term future. 

You know, the financial education is needed more outside London, because Londoners naturally have a-, a greater affinity. They live in the city, and financial services is the great success of the City of London, so people live and breathe it, and even the local, sort of, journalist community are-, you know, are talking more about finances in the media. We don't see that so much out-, out in the regions, really.

VJ:  Look, I think-, I think financial education's a huge part, I mean, I still think it's pretty crazy that it's not, kind of, part of our syllabus as, you know, growing up, and-, and as we-, we're educated, in a number of other subjects, why financial education is not part of that. So, I think there's a-, there-, there-, there is a big, big part of that, and so we really think about providing that, um, through our products, and-, and-, and also through, kind of-, you know, we're in the process of actually building some specific, self-teach, kind of, modules, within our app, and our website, where customers would be able to get that financial education. 

But, you know, we have certain products that will do that, inherently, in the way that you get access to those products, you will build an element of financial education, as well. So, we-, we think about it as a mix of both, but it is massively important, and on some of our partnership-related activities, where we're distributing through large organisations, part of that is actually going and educating the groups of people who are interested in our product about what it means, how they use it, um, you know, how to make sure they don't get in to debt, and, you know, those types of things, as well.

So, we are, um, very much, uh, as much about-, that this as about education, and using that, then, to kind of both improve the products that you-, that you-, you launch to customers, but also maybe the way people get priced. So, for example, someone who goes through our financial-, one of our financial education, uh, um, modules, would maybe get a lower interest on their APR for-, for a loan, for example. So, kind of, looping it back in, so the customer can see a real-, can see real, tangible value to-, to doing that.

SK:  Education is clearly the enabler to both better financial health, and increased use of fintech products. The more customers understand their financial situation, the better they can manage it, and the more likely they are to look for tools to help them do that. The more alternatives are made available to them, the more they realise they have options, besides a constant feedback loop of overdraft fees, low credit ratings, or savings ISAs with low interest rates. There is so much more out there to help you get more out of your money, and that is where UK fintech excels.

We leave the final word to Dr Sue Black OBE, who is a pioneer in digital technology and education in digital skills, especially for women, to realise full potential of digital for improving lives around the world. She spoke to Sam Maule, on our sister podcast, Connection Interrupted, and even though she wasn't specifically talking about digital banking, her words are just as resonant in this context, as she champions digital skills and technology as an enabler and a solution for all.

SB:  So, you know, I-, we need everyone to have digital skills, so that we can just take up all the opportunities there are, and also solve all the problems that we've got around us, uh, right across the world, from the individual level up to the global level. So, it empowers individuals, but it also empowers companies, so companies with employees that are tech-savvy are gonna have much more innovation going on, and be much more flexible and responsive organisations, to, kind of, take up the challenges that are coming, now that we're operating in a global marketplace.

And also for whole countries, and basically the world, countries that have got individuals who are tech-savvy within them, you know, that country's just gonna run better, there are gonna be people with ideas about how to sort out the massive issues that we have, around global poverty, and that kind of stuff. So I kind of see technology skills, digital skills, as being a massive enabler, at all of those different levels, for everybody.

SK:  Enabling and empowerment are key elements of the fintech industry. Unlike traditional banks, which can give the impression of shackling, or confusing their customers, fintech firms typically aim to empower them to manage their own money, whether through better user experiences, education, or easy access to new financial experiences, such as investment, and digital skills are a key part of this. Not only do fintechs exist to help people have better financial lives, but with the help of digital products and services, they aim to improve their lives overall.

Next episode, we look at how we can bring all this together. We've burst the London bubble, we've looked at the UK through an international lens, and we've now looked at how fintech can help solve real world problems for customers. But what's next? How do we get the whole nation talking about fintech, sharing knowledge, and working together as one, to fly the flag for UK fintech going forward? In a nation of such strong regional identities, can it even be done?

This episode was hosted by me, Sarah Kocianski, written by Laura Watkins, produced by Ollie Judge and Petrit Berisha, and edited by Michael Bailey. Thanks to Greg Michel at Tech Nation, and all the Tech Nation team, Anish Kapoor, CEO of AccessPay, Jonathan Hollow, Head of Financial Capability, Strategy and Innovation at the Money Advice Service, Richard Theo, CEO and Founder of Wealthify, Stephen Ingledew, CEO of Fintech Scotland, Dr Sue Black OBE, and Virraj Jatania, CEO and Founder of Pockit. 

11FS, the people who brought you this podcast, transform businesses, and, frankly, get shit done. To find out what we can do for you, visit 11FS.com, or email hello@11FS.com. If we hooked you with this episode, be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or your favourite podcast client, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, for more exclusive content. Thank you for listening. Goodbye.


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