FinTech Scotland, the industry body aiming to boost Scotland’s fintech economy, has awarded five fintech firms £50,000 each to support efforts to boost financial inclusion, accelerate financial resilience and deepen consumer engagement in financial services.
In partnership with the University of Strathclyde and University of Glasgow, FinTech Scotland announced the outcome of the latest Consumer Duty innovation call from its Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), an Innovation Accelerator project funded by Innovate UK.
Backed by 14 leading financial institutions, the initiative connected 20 global fintech businesses with industry leaders to develop data-driven solutions that enhance consumer outcomes in financial services. Participating fintechs worked closely with senior representatives from PwC, NatWest, Lloyds Banking Group, Equifax, Barclays, Tesco Bank, TSB, Advance Credit Union, Secure Trust Bank, and Dudley Building Society.
Fintech entrepreneurs showcased their solutions in a pitching event at PwC’s Glasgow offices in January. The five fintech firms awarded £50,000 to develop solutions that drive real-world impact were:
- Docstribute – Improving customer understanding of complex documents.
- Ask Silver – Offering a tool that identifies and reports scams for vulnerable consumers.
- NestEgg AI – Driving financial inclusion by enabling access to affordable credit and responsible lenders.
- Profylr – AI-driven risk and compliance insights for financial institutions enabling improved decision-making and outcome tracking.
- MyArk – Deepening financial resilience through enhanced data insights to identify indicators of future financial distress, enabling quicker appropriate interventions.
“Each of these companies are tackling real challenges with fresh thinking and practical solutions and it’s clear that their work has the potential to improve how the financial services sector delivers for consumers,” explained Fraser Wilson, financial services regional leader at PwC. “As a business that puts technology at the heart of our strategy, hosting the event at our Glasgow offices and seeing these ideas, and the passion from these innovators, was fantastic. It’s this kind of collaboration that pushes forward real progress for the industry and consumers alike.”
Driving positive impact
Looking forward, these fintech businesses will continue to collaborate with the industry leaders in the FRIL programme, refining the solutions to ensure real consumer impact while driving the evolution of financial services.
Nicola Anderson, CEO of FinTech Scotland, commented: “This latest customer-focused Innovation Call highlights the power of collaboration in driving better outcomes for individuals. Bringing together ambitious fintech firms and leading financial institutions, not only enhances good consumer outcomes—it accelerates the development of inclusive digital financial services and supports the evolution of the future digital economy.”
This Innovation Call expanded its reach by partnering with SuperTech West Midlands, which enabled credit unions, building societies and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) like Moneyline to engage in the programme.
Hillary Allen Smyth, executive director of SuperTech, also said: “We’re so proud to have been the first region to collaborate with the FRIL programme and the team at FinTech Scotland. All of our West Midlands partners have gained enormously throughout the innovation call and these grant awards will undoubtedly help to better serve consumers. But they are only a small part of the wider programme impact and through this collaboration, it’s an impact that will be felt far beyond Glasgow’s borders.”
Delivering change and better outcomes
Each of the fintechs participating in the process offered a solution which enables financial services to be more inclusive, accessible and consumer-focused. Utilising emerging technologies and advanced data insights continues to drive meaningful impact, shaping a fairer and more transparent financial future.
Robert McKechnie, director, of consumer and ID fraud products at Equifax, also said: “Equifax is proud to support the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab and its grant award winners of its most recent Consumer Duty Innovation Call in which we sponsored a use case. Innovation in financial regulation is key to a more secure and inclusive ecosystem, and we look forward to seeing the potential impact these innovators’ solutions may have on the industry.”
Helen Toft, non-executive director at Advance Credit Union, concluded: “Innovation is the key to building a fairer, more inclusive financial sector. FRIL’s Consumer Duty innovation call has been a great opportunity to get an insight into a diverse range of innovative solutions. It has given us the ability to plan to drive real change in how we can offer improved services to our members and deliver better outcomes for them.”
