As part of International Fraud Awareness week, 11 industry partners including BT, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Abrdn, TSB, Virgin Money, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, Fujitsu, Equifax and Dudley Building Society are collaborating to launch an innovation programme focused on addressing financial crime.

FinTech Scotland, SuperTech West Midlands, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority, brought together through the Innovate UK Innovation Accelerators programme, will lead the UK wide innovation call aiming from within the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab to tackle financial crime challenges.

Innovators worldwide 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 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.

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

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Hilary Smyth-Allen, executive director SuperTech said: “Joining this latest thematic call with FRIL, we are building on the strong base of cross-regional collaboration of innovation endeavour. As the partnership expands, the undoubted winner is the UK; this time in tackling some of the biggest challenges facing industry and citizens as result of financial crime.”

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 Midland.

This is a new model of R&D decision making that aims to empower local leaders to harness innovation to drive regional economy growth, help attract private investment, and develop future technologies.