News

From Finextra:

Nesta’s Challenge Prize Centre has today announced the twelve fintech businesses who will participate in the final phase of the ‘Open Up Challenge’ – a £2.5m prize fund backing the next generation of financial technology for small businesses.

The Open Up Challenge was announced by Nesta’s Challenge Prize Centre in February 2017. It is part of the Competition & Markets Authority’s package of remedies to shake up the UK retail banking market. It builds on the UK’s pioneering role in implementing open banking to bring greater competition and innovation to the market.

The Challenge led to a global search for talented teams building innovative products and services that will help small businesses save time and money, find better services, reduce stress and discover the intelligence in their financial data.

The twelve Finalists, who were selected by an independent judging panel, will each receive a £100k grant, special access to open banking data and support to bring their products to market. Five or six of these Finalists will go on to win a further £200k each at the end of the year.

The list of twelve Finalists includes seven teams from the Challenge’s 2017 cohort, plus five new entrants. Their products and services reflect the breadth of innovation in financial technology for small businesses: personalised comparison services to find the best-value bank accounts and loans; intelligent cashflow management; ‘credit passports’ updated in real time; automated completion of tax returns; ‘trade intelligence’ tools to help UK small businesses to compete internationally; and marketplaces which enable small businesses to plug into additional fintech apps via their bank account.

Chris Gorst, Challenge Prize Lead at Nesta, commented:

“The Open Up Challenge has again been overwhelmed by the range and quality of innovations that fintechs want to bring to small businesses.

“Over the course of the next six months, we are looking for these twelve talented teams to build and take to market solutions that will have the greatest impact on UK small businesses.

“The Open Up Challenge, which forms part of the CMA’s remedies for the Open Banking rollout, is demonstrating that smart regulation plus active engagement with innovators is a powerful combination to make markets work better. There are many other markets – from energy to care to legal services – that could benefit from this strategy.”

Bill Roberts, Head of Open Banking at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said:

“We’ve put Open Banking at the heart of the action we’ve taken to shake up retail banking in the UK, remove barriers to competition and innovation, and enable small businesses to take control of their finances.

“A new generation of products and services is now transforming this sector and the Open Up Challenge, led by Nesta, will further encourage innovation and drive improvement for the benefit of small businesses and their customers.”

John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury said:

“I want to congratulate all of the innovative British fintechs that have come this far in the Nesta Open Up Challenge. The UK is leading the way in fintech and the Challenge is yet another great example of our entrepreneurs and regulators coming together to tackle new challenges and revolutionise how people and businesses manage their money.”

The Open Up Challenge is part of a package of reforms to retail banking from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The Challenge is managed by Nesta’s Challenge Prize Centre, which delivers innovation through challenge prizes including the Longitude Prize and the Flying High Challenge.

The Open Up Challenge allowed Credit Data Research to really focus on PSD2 innovation for SMEs and other segments. The immediate advantages for SMEs will be quicker and safer access to funding as well as the creation of a stronger financial culture amongst SMEs. Instant lending will become possible for SMEs and new liquidity, through securitisation, will be a reality.  Read the full article here