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Lawmakers from the UK’s two main political parties competed with each other at a summit at the beginning of this week to lay out the red carpet for fintech companies, ahead of a general election expected by the end of the year.
“The UK remains a top destination for fintech investment,” said Bim Afolami, economic secretary to the Treasury, during his keynote address at Innovation Global Finance Summit (IFGS).
The Conservative lawmaker, who has served in his ministerial role since November 2023, praised open banking and open finance as “incredibly exciting new technologies with vast potential” during his speech.
“They are a case study of how I see the government’s role in supporting fintech. Open banking has been a resounding success, and it has made the UK a global leader with over 9m consumers using this technology today.”
Afolami said the policy has “clearly demonstrated” that fintechs can use technology to deliver “tangible benefits to consumers and businesses alike through drawing on consumer data”.
During his keynote address, Afolami announced the formation of a new open finance taskforce that will look at where the best commercial incentives are.
Further, the government minister told attendees that the National Payments Vision and crypto-asset legislation will be introduced prior to the summer recess that begins in July for UK lawmakers.
His opposition counterpart, Labour’s Tulip Siddiq, did little to diverge from his positive vision for the UK’s fintech industry and how the government could aid it.
“We need to grow the economy by looking to the industries of the future,” said Siddiq, adding that if Labour wins the general election, it will work actively with the fintech sector. “Labour is committed to delivering the next phase of open banking,” she said.
This, according to Siddiq, will unlock the potential of increased competition in retail payments.
“We want to see customers given full control of their recurring payments, getting rid of penalties for failed direct debits to ensure that financial inclusion and consumer empowerment are a part of our financial system.”
She highlighted this as a “particular interest” of the leader of the opposition and would-be prime minister, Keir Starmer.
Siddiq added that the party also wanted to “build on early successes in open banking”.
“We will embrace the potential of open finance to improve the financial wellbeing of the British public, whether that is by expanding the system to improve data from mortgages, pensions and insurance or utilising the potential of technology to support household savings,” she said.
