A new shared vision for realising future financial services growth in the East Midlands was welcomed by participants in a visit to the University of Nottingham last week, to showcase financial services as the UK's highest productivity sector and the key to achieving faster economic growth.
Simon Walls, Executive Director for Markets at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – with representatives from large financials services firms, start-up and scale-up firms, and business groups – met with colleagues from the university's School of Economics to celebrate the distinctive financial services contribution of the region and highlight the future potential for growth.
The Inclusive Financial Technology Hub (INFINITY) at the University of Nottingham has been developing a new model of university-based commercialisation in financial technology (fintech). As part of its work to accelerate new business ventures inspired by researchers, INFINITY launched an analysis of the additional benefits which could be realised for the UK by upscaling university research and commercialisation in fintech – estimating an upscaled university-based fintech ecosystem could contribute more than £9bn to the UK economy.
Nottingham has a unique heritage in cultivating a financial services community including some of the UK's largest and best-known brands in consumer finance. This is a great environment for start-up and scale-up firms to grow, including new ventures launched out of our universities. It is an exciting time and place to be, with enormous potential for the future."
The FCA's visit included pitch presentations by some of the new ventures developed within the INFINITY Hub. PresAIge, a new venture founded by researchers from theoretical physics, applies models from statistical physics using the power of machine learning to provide early detection and better predictions of hand-to-predict events. CommCheck, a new venture founded by researchers in readability and linguistics has developed an MS Word-integrated automated readability assistant. These ventures are examples of how the university is contributing to regional growth through new business creation.
Organisations participating in the FCA visit and a roundtable conversation about the future of financials services in the region chaired by Professor Gathergood included Experian – one of the region's largest public companies with a market capitalisation in excess of £30bn – together with Capital One, KPMG and Nottingham Building Society. Also participating in the roundtable were local firms Connected Data, Datagum, Oakbrook Finance and Podium. Representatives from the British Business Bank and East Midlands Chamber of Commerce also contributed to discussions, bringing both national and local strategic perspectives on how the financial services sector could realise future growth potential.
