The City of London Corporation has launched the search for a chief executive to run the new Center for Finance Innovation and Technology.
The center was backed by £5m of government funding at the 2021 Spending Review, after ex-Worldpay boss Sir Ron Kalifa argued in his flagship report on the sector last year that the city should build a hub to be a world leader in fintech.
With seed funding confirmed and the City of London Corporation chosen by the Treasury as its delivery partner, a steering committee is now working to develop the centre, according to documents published in August on the company’s website and a public job advert.
One of the committee’s first tasks is to choose a general manager for the centre. The chief executive “will have a deep understanding of the financial innovation ecosystem in the UK, including the role of the financial services and technology sectors, regulators, government and others in driving positive change,” the advert said.
“The long-term financing and sustainability of [the Centre] is key to its success,” it adds. “This should be a priority for the CEO from the outset, and they will need the necessary experience in managing a business, its finances and relationships with seed and follow-on investors to ensure that the entity can function effectively from a funding perspective.”
Russell Reynolds Associates – the headhunter who is also currently working on a replacement for private equity giant Carlyle’s chief executive – has been brought into the search.
Vision and mission for CFIT
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The job advertisement does not state a specific salary, but says the remuneration is “competitive”. The company has been contacted for comment.
The search comes as the steering committee responsible for setting up the center begins to lay the foundations for how it works.
Chaired by Sir Ron and with figures from the likes of the Financial Conduct Authority and Innovate Finance, the latest minutes show that a decision on a head of the center should be made in early September. A “playbook” with the committee’s recommendations will be developed over the next few weeks, and then handed over to the new management team, they add. Potential future funding models are likely to be raised.
Big Four professional services firm EY supports the committee, the minutes show.
The committee has created a mission statement – “To accelerate opportunities and remove barriers to growth for fintech, by bringing together the best minds from the ecosystem, to achieve better outcomes for consumers and SMEs across the UK” – and two core aims: to bring “coalitions” of experts together to address the Kalifa Review’s priorities, and to “support the creation of high-income technology-based employment across the country” while improving access for consumers and global scale for businesses.
A person with knowledge of the Center tells Financial news that the company has also plowed £500,000 into the project. However, the company feels it is “not appropriate” for it to try to dictate the future funding model or which senior staff are chosen to run the centre.
“It’s a big project, but it will really start with the new management team,” they said.
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