The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), the UK’s centre of excellence for innovation in technology to efficiently meet financial regulation requirements, has secured £3.18 million from Scottish Enterprise to deliver three years of the award-winning programme.

The funding will deepen collaboration amongst academia, industry and regulators, and further accelerate the adoption of responsible technology-driven innovation in financial services, supporting the sector’s competitiveness and that of the economy.

Led by FinTech Scotland in partnership with the University of Strathclyde, FRIL will accelerate the adoption of new solutions enabling fairer financial futures and supporting technology innovators to scale their businesses.

The types of industry regulatory challenges that FRIL will address include ensuring AI is adopted by providers in a way that is responsible and explainable to ensure fair financial outcomes for businesses and consumers. It will also focus on finding solutions that strengthen the effectiveness, integrity and efficiency of financial crime controls.

Agile prioritisation during the programme will address industry needs and emerging regulations around the use of AI, open data and digital assets.

By uniting industry, academia, technology innovators, government and regulators, FRIL will turn shared insight into products, partnerships, investment and real‑world adoption. 

To date, FRIL has successfully supported 120 fintech SMEs to accelerate solutions, enabled £28 million in committed private investment and delivered a projected 6:1 economic return on investment for every £1 of public funding. 

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Jane Martin, Managing Director Innovation and Investment, Scottish Enterprise, said: “FRIL is a shining example of how collaboration between industry, academia and regulators can make a real impact, utilising the development of advanced technologies to create high‑value jobs and attract private investment.

“This funding underscores our commitment to fintech innovation and our support for innovative businesses, helping them to scale with confidence and build the global competitiveness of Scotland’s financial services sector.”

Aleks Tomczyk, Chief Executive, FinTech Scotland, added: “The opportunity from the current and forecast future growth of fintech is huge. We are proud of FRIL’s impact to date. FRIL’s success evidences the strategic value of innovation to the our fintech cluster in simultaneously delivering growth and better outcomes for consumers. Scottish Enterprise’s investment will use FinTech Scotland’s proven Innovation Labs model to accelerate innovation in large companies and speed growth in fintechs.”