Innovate Finance Global Summit

After a two year break, IFGS was back, welcoming innovators from across the FinTech ecosystem to discuss and debate the issues and opportunities facing the sector.

The event saw industry leaders convene at the City of London Guildhall for a packed two-day conference shining a spotlight on the global FinTech ecosystem. Delegates benefitted from an increased focus on the key areas that are enhancing and promoting fairer finance for all.

On day two, our Head of Public Policy, Maria Palmieri, sat down with industry leaders to discuss smart data and the future of open banking. The panel touched on several industry hot topics, from changing consumer expectations to the steps we must take to achieve a truly open financial ecosystem. When asked about what the industry requires from a regulatory perspective, Maria commented:

“The next stage of open finance has been delayed for too long; now is the time for the UK Government and industry regulators to act. Without smart data legislation, it is almost impossible for fintechs, banks and open banking providers to plan for the future. Open banking technology holds the power to transform the financial livelihoods of people and businesses, ensuring better and fairer financial services for everyone. Failure to move swiftly by the UK Government and industry regulators will undoubtedly create a barrier to innovation for open banking providers and their customers, delaying our journey towards open finance even further.”

Several of our team members attended the exhibition that took place alongside the conference. This provided a great opportunity to showcase our open banking solutions and bring delegates up to speed with what’s been happening at Yapily over the past 12 months. Check out the snap of our Yapsters Tom, Josh, and Ioana at the event.

Coadec & Yapily: Future of Payments

As part of UK FinTech Week celebrations, we also joined forces with Coadec, the policy voice of tech start-ups and scale-ups, to host a fringe event on the future of payments.

Card schemes have held dominance over the payments market for decades but are facing seismic competition from the BNPL and open banking sectors. We are on the cusp of significant change, and what better way to explore the challenges and opportunities we face than gathering voices at the forefront of payments innovation together. Speakers included:

• Josiah Senu, Head of Policy, SaltPay (moderator)
• Iain McDougall, Chief Commercial Officer, Yapily
• Tom Greenwood, Chief Executive Officer, Volt
• Emma Davis, Head of Product, Divido
• Charlie Mercer, Head of Economic Policy, Coadec

When asked about the intersection between BNPL and open banking, Iain commented:

“More regulation around BNPL is key to increasing transparency and ensuring consumers understand that they are essentially accruing debt. In the future, open banking could help solve these challenges by enabling BNPL to become a more responsible lending option. Via open banking, real-time access to more accurate customer data could enable customers to keep track of all their BNPL commitments in one place, for example. Equally, providers would be able to investigate a customer’s BNPL history across the ecosystem as a crucial step in the affordability assessment process.”

Other points of discussion included how we reach the full potential of variable recurring payments (VRP), the future role of the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE), and what Apple’s recent acquisition of Credit Kudos means for the open banking industry. On this final point, Iain reinforced that this move will inevitably drive further adoption, innovation, and investment into the ecosystem:

“This is an exciting landmark moment for the industry and we welcome Apple’s entry into the world of open banking. We could be witnessing the open banking equivalent of contactless payments’ ‘TfL moment’ in 2014. In this case, Big Tech is the catalyst that will propel open banking into the mainstream. It’s an incredibly exciting time to be a part of the open banking industry and its progression towards open finance, transforming the financial livelihoods of people and businesses. At Yapily, we are perfectly positioned within this landscape to achieve our mission of enabling better and fairer financial services for everyone.”

That’s a wrap on UK FinTech Week 2022 from Yapily - see you next year!