The initiative, led by FinTech Scotland, SuperTech West Midlands, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority, brings together 11 industry leaders including BT, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Abrdn, TSB, Virgin Money, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, Fujitsu, Equifax and Dudley Building Society.

The programme, operating under the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), invites innovators worldwide to develop solutions for five key financial crime challenges identified by the industry partners.

Interested parties are invited to apply to join the programme by 13 January 2025. Successful applicants will benefit from direct support from industry leaders, an unparalleled opportunity to refine and test their propositions within a robust framework. Participants will also gain insights through exclusive roundtables, masterclasses, and workshops led by leading academics from the University of Glasgow, University of Strathclyde, Aston University, and Birmingham City University.

This initiative builds on the momentum of three previous innovation calls launched this year by FinTech Scotland through its Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL). By publishing industry-led challenge statements, FRIL invites innovators to develop new solutions to address real world challenges. By focussing on non-competitive challenges, FRIL encourages collaboration across established institutions, delivering meaningful change in financial services and other sectors.

In addition, this fourth call further expands the geographical reach of FRIL. Having expanded recently on the call relating to Consumer Duty, launched in September, with the partnership with SuperTech West Midlands, the financial crime programme welcomes the addition of Greater Manchester Combined Authority to cement the development of FRIL as an asset for the whole of the UK.

As the three geographies with Innovation Accelerator pilots, part of the government’s commitment to place-based innovation investment through Innovate UK, part of UKRI, the partnership is working to demonstrate the power of this approach and that of cluster-led innovation activity relevant to advancing the UK’s position in a priority sector.

This collaboration will deepen FRIL’s impact in tackling financial crime, with a specific focus on five use cases provided by industry.

The call will conclude on 20 March 2025 with a showcase event, offering innovators the chance to present their solutions to a broad range of senior stakeholders.

Applications close on 13 January 2025. For more information and to view the programme’s use cases, please visit here.

Nicola Anderson, CEO at FinTech Scotland said: “FRIL is all about the power of collaboration, bringing together diverse expertise to deliver better outcomes for all.

“By partnering with other UK regions, we are strengthening the UK’s position as a leader in financial innovation, connecting the best minds and resources to address some of the industry’s toughest challenges.”

Paul Taylor, managing director at BT Business, added: “By taking part in FRIL, BT will continue to co-innovate with industry partners on key challenges and priorities in tackling Financial Crime.

“It will allow us to explore FinTech solutions and harness innovation to ensure our customers and businesses are protected today and prepared for tomorrow.”

Paddy O’Keefe, public private partnerships Virgin Money, said: “Virgin Money is committed to tackling financial crime, and technology has a key role to play in effectively achieving that.

“Following the success of FRIL’s ‘simplifying compliance with AI’ programme, we’re excited to support the new ‘innovation to address financial crime’ programme and look forward to engaging with partners to help combat this important issue.”

Robert McKechnie, Director, Credit Products and Strategic Alliances at Equifax UK, said “This call aligns seamlessly to Equifax’s commitment to strengthen the financial services’ sector in their responding to criminal activities i.e. Identity and Fraud thus meeting their regulatory requirements.

“The ability to leverage innovative and emerging applications of technology plays a crucial role in the identification and disruption of financial crime and we are excited to be engaging across the FRIL programme to support the development of these solutions.”

FRIL is a project funded by the Glasgow City Region Innovation Accelerator programme Led by Innovate UK on behalf of UK Research and Innovation, the pilot Innovation Accelerators programme invested £100m in 26 transformative R&D projects to accelerate the growth of three high-potential innovation clusters – Glasgow City Region, Greater Manchester and West Midlands. This is a new model of R&D decision making that empowers local leaders to harness innovation to drive regional economic growth, help attract private investment and develop future technologies.