Smart Data Foundry has announced new partnerships with Equifax, Sage Group, Moneyhub and FreeAgent to help support its open finance for good quest.

These organisations are the latest to join the firm’s movement which will see the secure sharing of financial data and trends to achieve societal change and supporting the economy.

Edinburgh-based Smart Data Foundry is part of the University of Edinburgh and a collaboration with the Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA) and FinTech Scotland.

The announcement comes after a successful partnership between Smart data Foundry and NatWest Group.

NatWest shared de-identified data from over a million householders to provide a factual account of the impact of the pandemic on household finances, based on bank transactions.

To protect customer rights and privacy, all data was de-identified and analysed by accredited researchers in the security of the Smart Data Foundry Safe Haven, operated by EPCC at the University of Edinburgh, a controlled and secure service environment for undertaking data research.

Insights from the NatWest data were shared with the UK Government at the start of 2021 and continue to be updated.

Additionally, Smart Data Foundry is working with FreeAgent to focus on SMEs, working with Equifax to investigate changes in creditworthiness and with Sage, to consider the causes and impact of late and slow payments to small and medium sized businesses.

Insights from the collaboration will be shared and updated with the UK Government as financial behaviour adapts to the pandemic.

The organisation has also announced Dame Julia Unwin as the new chair to the organisation. Unwin previously worked as the Chief Executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and has had a long career working in government, within the corporate and voluntary sectors.

Commenting on the announcement, Dame Unwin said: “We have started a movement within the financial services sector which is gaining momentum at pace. Driven by our purpose to improve people’s lives, our new name, Smart Data Foundry, better reflects the challenges we face.

“Today’s announcement charts the significant progress Smart Data Foundry has made to date in securing partnerships with these significant organisations which will enable us to unlock the power of financial data that, up until now, was not available for public purpose or common good.

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She added: “It is important not to underestimate the work that has gone into getting to this stage which includes data governance agreements to protect privacy. This headway, and the success of the NatWest Group partnership, paves the way for many other partnerships as we strive improve the lives of ordinary people and support the resilience of the SME sector.”

“The science community has shown how important health data was to manage the pandemic. Our aim is to do the same for the economy by providing financial data.

“However, our collaboration will reach beyond Open Finance as we look at other significant challenges such as climate data and the transition to net-zero, addressing the Poverty Premium and supporting the intersection of finance and health.”

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