The HM Treasury's new Financial Services Growth & Competitiveness Strategy is a welcome signal that we are finally getting serious about reclaiming leadership in financial services.
As a former fintech founder and now running a venture builder dedicated to innovation and entrepreneurship, I read this with cautious optimism, because while the ambition is right, timing is critical.
💡 Unlocking capital for startups, VC and small business? Long overdue
For too long, too much UK capital has sat idle or underutilised. Retail investor participation is low compared to our peers, and it’s holding back early-stage and growth businesses from scaling here.
I’m encouraged by the strategy’s focus on reforms that could channel more private capital into startups, ISAs, long-term assets, simplification of the advice landscape, and critically, changes to the ring-fencing rules that have long restricted banks’ ability to invest in innovative businesses. These are the kinds of levers we need to pull if we want our most ambitious founders to stay and grow here.
⚡ Reducing regulatory friction for innovation? Yes, please
If we’re going to remain globally competitive, it can’t take 6+ months to get regulated. A faster, smarter regulatory approach for innovative startups, coupled with overdue reforms to authorisation, the Ombudsman, and capital requirements, is a welcome change.
🤖 Backing AI and payments innovation? Essential
The world isn’t standing still: AI, payments, digital ID, and Open Finance are becoming table stakes in a globally competitive environment. The strategy’s commitment to appointing an AI Champion for financial services and accelerating modernisation of payments infrastructure is great to see.
It’s also great to see the work of the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) being referenced and recognised, on the potential of Smart Data and Open Finance to unlock better access to capital for SMEs. Having served as the founding CEO of CFIT, I know how important it is to ensure this work turns into tangible, scalable impact.
🌍 The pace globally has accelerated; this really couldn’t come at a more critical time
Cities like Singapore, New York, Dubai, etc, are racing ahead. If we want to keep the UK as a place where founders choose to launch and grow, this can’t just be another government document.
Execution is everything.
At Collectively Better, we see the barriers that ambitious founders and innovators face every day. This strategy opens doors, but it’s on all of us to ensure they don’t close again through inertia and delay.
🔔 I’d love to hear views from across the ecosystem
What will it take to make this vision a reality for UK innovation and entrepreneurship?
Read the full strategy here https://lnkd.in/e8eRjdkG