Sir Ron Kalifa leads the India-UK Financial Partnership recommendations for Fintech collaboration

The India-UK Financial Partnership (IUKFP) describes how the two nations can accelerate and improve cooperation on fintech and innovation to increase respective sector growth.

A recently released report by IUKFP, the India-UK Financial Services Cooperation Forum, outlines a collaborative approach to driving fintech innovation and includes a number of recommendations for the Indian and UK governments and regulators.

The report, ‘Harnessing the power of fintech and data‘, which has been released today, clarifies the opportunities for the UK to work with India as a priority partner to implement the recommendations of the FinTech Review led by Sir Ron Kalifa.

This includes learning from each other’s successes, and also how to further strengthen the two countries’ respective fintech ecosystems and contribute to the common agendas of financial inclusion and equalization.

The IUKFP recommendations are focused on decision-makers and regulatory authorities in each country:

IUKFP: On the British side

The report’s first recommendation to the UK government is to launch an international fintech credential portfolio and an international fintech portal for inward investment from India through pilot programmes, making India the priority partner for the UK in building alignment with developing markets.

Second, it proposes to secure access to global talent by launching a UK-India mobility partnership with a fintech lens.

In addition, the report recommends implementing a coalition on digital ID. This will bring together various stakeholders and explore how India’s Aadhar digital identity scheme can be extended to the UK; learning from India’s experience with payment systems.

Finally, it advocated developing the UK as a complementary source of capital for Indian fintech firms and unicorns thinking of going public.

IUKFP: On the India side

On the other hand, the report recommends that India leverage the India Stack. This includes considering how access to the new account aggregator framework, which allows data to be shared between multiple parties, can be extended to more national and international firms and foster innovation.

Second, it also proposes interoperability and bank switching so that India can learn from the UK’s open banking experience.

In this, the report also cites a strong interest in cross-border applications of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and the role of CBDCs in improving payment systems.

According to the report’s third recommendation, India should pioneer the development of fintech platforms for SME financing, which will help encourage cross-border trade and capital flows between India and the UK.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, the nation should seek to improve the fintech ecosystem with cyber security and data protection, ally India and the UK’s data sharing regimes to share best practices and establish mechanisms for specialist firms from both countries to learn and develop bilaterally.

The coming together of two ‘world-leading fintech centers’

Reflecting on the report, Bill WintersCEO i Standard The charter and the UK Chair of the IUKFP, identifies the UK and India as two “world-leading fintech centres”, which constitute “natural partners for financial innovation”.

“There is much to learn from our respective successes and much to gain from our respective potential,” Winters continues. “We believe that if adopted, the recommendations in this report – which have been developed by businesses across the UK and India – will help to deepen and strengthen our partnership and opportunities for growth in the future.”

Today BoxMD and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd and the India Chair of the IUKFP, adds “India and the UK have a long-standing economic relationship, with the UK being one of India’s top trading partners.

“Both countries also have world-class fintech ecosystems, making them natural partners in financial innovation.

“The UK can learn from India’s successful experience in payment systems, while for Indian fintech firms and unicorns, the UK can be a good source of both growth capital and emerging technology pool.

“The recommendations presented in this report can further improve the fintech ecosystem, benefiting financial inclusion and the establishment of new benchmarks across the globe,” concludes Kotak.

The IUKFP Fintech Working Group, which authored the report “Harnessing the power of fintech and data”, is led by Sherry Madera and Professor Tarun Ramadorai. The group is grateful to Sir Ron Kalifa for his guidance on UK recommendations.