Tapping into聽FinTech innovation happening outside of the capital will result in better competition for customers, says the head of innovation at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The regulatory body wants to work with new FinTech businesses innovating across the country through its work around coaching and accelerator-type programmes.
鈥淥ur style is about approachability, getting out there, talking to people and listening,鈥� Bob Ferguson told 老九品茶Cloud.
鈥淔inTech has a huge concentration in聽London which is great but what about Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh?
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to neglect regions that have a significant developing FinTech scene.鈥�
London鈥檚 鈥榞ravitational force鈥�, alongside the fact that the bulk of requests to connect come from the city, means the FCA has spent lot of time working with businesses there, says Ferguson.
However they have always been open to working across the country.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to be a facility for just London businesses,鈥� he says.
鈥淲e want to see more traffic from other cities 鈥� wherever the action is.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got all the obvious non-London targets in our sights now. We just need people to spread the word and say 鈥榶ou can talk to these people鈥�.
鈥淲e want to understand the ecosystem in Manchester better than we do at the moment.鈥�
Part of this push is spreading the idea that the FCA is actually there to help 鈥� which is not the word on the street, according to Ferguson.
鈥淲e exist to protect financial consumers and to try and keep markets clean but we also exist to promote competition,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to become an approachable body and particularly in the context of FinTech and FinTech innovation we鈥檙e trying to be enablers of that instead of just being perceived as some kind of nuisance or block.鈥�
The key for Ferguson and his team is for fledgling companies to come to them with their ideas to avoid being overwhelmed by the regulation surrounding the sector.
鈥淧eople think 鈥榦h God, there鈥檚 all this regulation鈥�,鈥� he said.
鈥淥ne of the main things we鈥檙e trying to do is say 鈥榠t鈥檚 ok you can talk to us, we鈥檒l explain it to you because we understand the sector鈥�.
鈥淲hen people are shaping their propositions if they鈥檙e in dialogue with us we will know how to make things much simpler.鈥�
The key driver for the authority is to help new businesses get to market with less hassle, which helps promote the overall goal to increase competition, making things fairer for customers.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not here to give new businesses an easy ride or engage them in misleading advertising in any way,鈥� said Ferguson.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to take away protections that customers would enjoy if they were dealing with traditional financial institutions.
鈥淲e鈥檙e coaching people on a one-to-one basis because a lot of people come to us not necessarily with a financial background, some come with a tech background who鈥檝e spotted a potential application in the sector.鈥�