Nicola Anderson

The initiative aims to deliver a wide-ranging, ambitious research agenda, led by and actionable for the financial sector, to help advance understanding and adoption of new and emerging technologies.

It will engage participants in industry-led innovation challenge calls, integrate academic research with an industry-relevant agenda, design and implement a skills and education programme, and facilitate knowledge exchange through workshops, roundtables, conferences and trade missions.

The research will cover various aspects of financial regulation, including explainable AI applications for ESG risk management; simplifying ESG regulation compliance through explainable intelligent automation; using automation and AI to combat money laundering; synthetic data for financial regulation innovation; and generative AI for improved ESG reporting and monitoring in financial services.

FRIL, which is specifically funded by the Glasgow City Region Innovation Accelerator programme led by Innovate UK on behalf of UK Research and Innovation, will work with industry participants, including large established financial institutions, the fintech community, academics, voluntary organisations and regulators across the UK.

Detail of the first four industry-led innovation calls – covering AI and compliance, consumer duty, financial crime and ESG – will be published on FinTech Scotland’s website.

Nicola Anderson, CEO of FinTech Scotland, said: “FinTech Scotland is uniquely positioned within the Scottish fintech industry to lead such an initiative as it will work to inspire collaborators across Scotland, the UK and globally, enabling those around the world to see Glasgow’s financial services capabilities.

“Bringing the fintech community of industry, academics and regulators together to explore, test and experiment with new technologies is an important part of our mission.”

Professor David Hillier, associate principal and executive dean of the University of Strathclyde Business School, said: “The University of Strathclyde is delighted to partner with Fintech Scotland and the University of Glasgow to deliver this critical initiative.

“We have significant capabilities across the university in emerging technologies including AI, space and quantum, which we look forward to leveraging through FRIL. We look forward to continuing our work with industry, policy makers, regulators and innovative SME’s to drive actionable solutions and deliver on FRILs ambitious agenda.”

Professor Eleanor Shaw, head of the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow, said: “The Adam Smith Business School is very pleased to be a founding partner alongside our colleagues in FinTech Scotland and the University of Strathclyde to deliver FRIL.

“The opportunity to transform the regulatory landscape is remarkable and we are excited to work with partners across all sectors to deliver a collaborative centre of excellence for cutting edge developments in financial regulation.”

Stephen Ingledew OBE, chair of FinTech Scotland, added: “Once more, FinTech Scotland is taking proactive measures to showcase the effectiveness of how a cluster approach can accelerate the UK’s ability to seize competitive advantage in the future of financial regulation and fintech innovation. FRIL will allow us to continue to endorse the opportunity from the fintech sector to support growth across the UK economy.”