January 23, 2023
FSMA violations are among the top whistleblowers’ allegations # The Financial Conduct Authority that keeps an eye on every whistleblowing case that falls within their remit, reports the growing number of whistleblowing in July-September 2022. During the third quarter of last year, FCA received 291 new whistleblowing reports.
After the Q2 2022 reports, which piled up to 276 reports, whistleblowing is now growing. Along with this, FCA records a growing number of registered allegations rising by 55% to 734 allegations in total.
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January 23, 2023
Rising wages are aimed at increasing pension tax relief # According to the data published by HM Revenue and Customs, the rising wages might upscale the tax relief of pension contributions in the 2023 tax year.
The costs of pension tax relief has risen to £27 billion as wages in the current financial year. The root of pension tax relief growth is found to be in Auto-Enrolment and wage growth.
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January 23, 2023
SmartSearch is certified as a Great Place To Work # SmartSearch is an Ilkley-based provider of digital compliance solutions, which has been officially certified as a Great Place To Work.
The firm’s employees had to undergo independent surveys. The accreditation also required an in-depth review of SmartSearch’s culture, practices and programmes. Based on the information received during the accreditation process, the company has been recognized as one of the best places to work in the UK.
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January 23, 2023
The Bank of England has criticised the UK banks’ risk management system # In a series of letters to the chief executives, the Bank of England expressed criticism over the UK banks’ risk management system after the collapse of multibillion-dollar Archegos Capital exposed the risk management weak spots. The collapse led to nearly £8 billion of trading losses.
BoE expresses discomfort with the exposure of traditional financial institutions to the hedge funds and other non-banking financial institutions.
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January 23, 2023
Wamo announces 50% growth in team size following launch of UK incorporation services and Shopify affiliation # Wamo is a digital financial services company that recently launched a new UK incorporation services and Shopify affiliation. It has been well-received by the company’s customers and contributed to the company’s overall growth.
Wamo is a digitally native fintech company that targets small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Now it is incorporated in the United Kingdom and headquartered in London and Malta.
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January 19, 2023
The United Kingdom is upgrading its instant payment system to comply with ISO 20022 # Since the world’s standard for instant payments has evolved, the UK now needs to modernise the Faster Payments System. Despite the Faster Payment System being the most popular for businesses in 2022, it is going through the upgrading process known as New Payment Architecture (NPA) program.
The relatively new ISO 20022 has emerged as a preferred financial messaging standard and many modern payment systems are now deploying it.
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January 18, 2023
London remains the leading fintech investment hub despite the global fintech investment decrease # Global fintech investment decreased by 30% compared to 2021. According to the Innovate Finance research, the total investment into the fintech industry in 2022 reached $92billion globally, which is 30% lower than in the 2021. Last year, total investment amounted to $130billion.
Not only that, but the number of total deals has also faced a significant decrease.
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January 18, 2023
UKs fintech market is going to see more UKs cashed-up banks buying fintech firms in 2023 # Digital banking in the UK is expected to evolve rapidly as cashed-up banks are trying to buy fintech firms on the cheap in 2023. Tim Levene, the chief of Augmentum Fintech, assesses that the UK fintech sector should expect a wave of acquisitions this year.
Levene notes that the banks, insurers, and asset managers are “sitting on a lot of cash”, and traditional finance firms are failing the digital transformation.
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January 18, 2023
“Detected” secures £2.5 million in a fundraising round with Thomson Reuters Ventures as an investor # Detected is a London-based startup founded in 2020, that makes the onboarding process frictionless and automated. Via the innovative technological solutions, the fintech startup is able to create accurate and detailed profiles of any business. Some believe that Detected is the innovative solution capable of disrupting the Know-Your-Business process.
Recently, Detected got on the news for gaining the support of Thomson Reuters Ventures and £2.
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January 16, 2023
Andrew Griffith calls for raising the aspirations of the United Kingdom to deliver a more innovative economy # Last week, Griffith was in the States, warming up an interest in the UK’s tech scene.
Andrew Griffith, an Economic Secretary to the Treasury and former senior media executive, stated that it is time to raise the “aspirations” of the United Kingdom in order to foster economic growth.
All of this comes despite recent criticism from top fintechs of the UK’s regulators for slowing the progress of open banking.
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