In partnership with the University of Strathclyde and University of Glasgow, FRIL will deliver a wide-ranging research agenda, led by—and actionable for—the financial sector, to help advance understanding and adoption of new and emerging technologies.

As well as integrating academic research with an industry-relevant agenda, the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab will engage participants in industry-led innovation challenge calls, design and implement a skills and education programme, and facilitate knowledge exchange through workshops, roundtables, conferences, and trade missions.

Funded by the Glasgow City Region Innovation Accelerator programme, FRIL will work with industry participants including large established financial institutions, the fintech community, academics, voluntary organisations, and regulators across the UK.

The research will cover various aspects of financial regulation, including the following areas:

• Explainable AI applications for environmental, social, and governance (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.
• Generative AI for improved ESG reporting and monitoring in financial services.

The first four industry-led innovation calls to be issued in conjunction with the Lab will cover:

• AI and compliance: Utilising emerging technologies to simplify compliance process and monitoring.
• Consumer Duty: Supporting consumer duty obligations and enhancing financial inclusion outcomes.
• Financial Crime: Addressing future challenges of financial crime.
• ESG: Meeting new regulatory requirements, leveraging new data and new technologies.

FRIL’s output regarding collaboration and knowledge exchange will include white papers, podcasts, newsletters, blogs, and also a series of events including roundtables, conferences, and trade missions.

The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab is one of the strategic recommendations laid out in the FinTech Research & Innovation Roadmap, published in March 2022. It also aligns with the recently announced UK innovation initiative, the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT), formed in response to the HM Treasury FinTech Sector Review.

“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,” said Nicola Anderson, CEO of FinTech Scotland.

“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, also commented: “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 SMEs to drive actionable solutions and deliver on FRIL’s ambitious agenda.”

Recommended reading

• Hays and FinTech Scotland Launch New Platform for Talent to Showcase Skills
• FinTech Scotland Appoints New Senior Leader
• FinTech Scotland and Smart Data Foundry Launch Innovation Challenge

Professor Eleanor Shaw, head of the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow, remarked: “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, further 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.”