UK Fintech News Roundup: The Latest Stories 19/10

Every Wednesday we delve into the latest fintech updates from across the UK. This week brings updates from Revolut, Economic Intelligence Wales, TransferGo, GPS, Featurespace and Plaid.

Minister for Export visits Revolut HQ

Minister of Exports, Marcus Fysh met the senior managers at Revolut to discuss the company’s plans for expansion, including those relating to fintech in the UK.

The visit to Revolut’s headquarters in Canary Wharf came as part of a government initiative to support fintech firms in the country, with Fysh citing the fintech industry as “very important for the economy“.

Fysh, on fintech success in the UK, said: “The UK is a services superpower and a global leader in the fintech sector. Companies like Revolut highlight the passion, innovation and technical ingenuity at the heart of our fintech industry. It was great to see this work in person and it’s crucial [that the] the government continues to support this important sector.

“We continue to work hard to cut market entry barriers and support our great tech unicorns to export their brilliant services around the world, supporting investment, jobs and growth across the UK.”

Economic Intelligence Wales welcomes new partners

Bangor Business School and Enterprise Research Center has joined Economic Intelligence Wales in a partnership that produces reports to develop insight into the issues affecting the Welsh economy.

Development Bank of Wales launched Economic Intelligence Wales in 2018 to collect and analyze data. The aim of the partnership is to help improve the economy of Wales.

Giles Thorleychief executive of the Development Bank of Wales, said: “We are delighted to welcome Bangor Business School and the Enterprise Research Center to our unique partnership so that we can continue to build on our work in providing independent, robust and reliable insight to businesses, researchers and decision makers about the Welsh economy, at a time when our understanding of changes in the economy is of critical importance.

“They will each bring years of valuable insight and expertise to our output, enabling us to expand the range of data and expert analysis we provide to interested parties about Wales’ economy, and how it can be improved.”

TransferGo announces continuous growth

Provider of payment services TransferGo has reached five million customers since its inception. The company has seen significant growth over the past 12 months; has gained around two million new customers.

Over the past nine years, the company has amassed three million customers, underscoring its successful recent growth. This news comes one year after a $50 million Series C funding round.

Daumantas Dvilinksasco-founder and CEO of TransferGo, said: “Our year-on-year growth coincides with TransferGo’s 10th anniversary, and we simply wouldn’t be able to mark this milestone without our amazing employees putting our customers’ needs first. I can’t wait for us to build on this momentum and change the nature of remittances – bringing new innovative products to new markets and further supporting our five million strong and growing customer base.”

GPS and Featurespace partner to offer new product

Payment technology platform Global processing services (GPS) cooperates with Feature spacethe fraud detection and risk management platform, to create a new fraud mitigation solution.

The partnership between the two is to create ‘GPS Fraud Advantage’, powered by Featurespace. The offering enables customers to monitor, act and manage fraud alerts.

Martina KingCEO of Featurespace, said: “Our technology and the results our customers achieve are recognized as industry leading by those committed to fighting fraud and financial crime.

“Through this partnership, GPS will be able to provide an enhanced level of customer experience and increased security guarantees, allowing their customers to focus on continued innovation and growth.”

Plaid report highlights scale of people turning to fintech

Plaidan open banking network, has revealed that 84 per cent of UK consumers now use fintech to manage their money.

Furthermore, 41 percent of the consumers surveyed showed little or no confidence in the current economy. These findings come from ‘The fintech effect‘ report by Plaid, conducted online among 4,010 adults in both the UK and US.

Kat CloudUK policy lead at Plaid, commented: “Given all the economic uncertainty and resulting stress, fintech tools will provide critical lifelines. However, to keep this momentum going we need to move quickly from open banking to open finance, which which improves people’s access to a wider range of their financial data.

“Open finance will empower the fintech industry to deliver new digital financial use cases that better meet people’s needs, from pension management to better debt management tools.”