November 2017

Recent years have seen a reduced supply of capital to domestic businesses by banks due to increased capital requirements and compliance costs.
Market finance has not acted as a perfect substitute for bank finance due to SMEs being unlikely to have the requisite information and expected returns. Technology may greatly reduce the costs for both service providers and recipients and is likely to replace traditional practices where processes are most standardised and tasks are repetitive.
Fintech is expected to affect nearly 25% of financial services activity by 2020. It may act as both complement & substitute.
Extending the British Financial Conduct Authority’s ‘sandbox’ to other European markets would reduce regulatory barriers to innovation whilst preserving consumer protection and financial stability. It is the first step towards an open environment for the application of technology to financial services.

Listen to the full INNOV8 panel discussion here.