The University of Strathclyde is a partner in a new Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL) which is set to revolutionise and shape the future regulatory landscapes in the UK and around the globe.
The initiative, involving the University of Glasgow and led by FinTech Scotland, will champion the frontier of financial regulation and harness cutting-edge technologies to help create jobs and business opportunities, while also unlocking the potential of future talent.
FRIL is one of 11 projects sharing £100 million from the UK Government’s Levelling Up fund for Glasgow City Region Innovation Accelerator programme, led by Innovate UK on behalf of UK Research and Innovation. It aims to deliver a wide-ranging, ambitious research agenda, led by and actionable for the financial sector, to help advance understanding and adoption of new and emerging technologies.
The Lab delivers one of the strategic recommendations laid out in the FinTech Research & Innovation Roadmap, launched in March 2022 and aligns with the recently announced UK innovation initiative, the CFIT, formed in response to the HM Treasury FinTech Sector Review.
The Lab will engage participants in industry-led innovation challenge calls, integrate academic research with an industry-relevant agenda, design and implement a skills and education programme, and facilitate knowledge exchange through workshops, roundtables, conferences and trade missions.
Significant capabilities
Professor David Hillier, Associate Principal and Executive Dean of the University of Strathclyde Business School said: "The University of Strathclyde is delighted to partner with Fintech Scotland and the University of Glasgow to deliver this critical initiative. We have significant capabilities across the University in emerging technologies including AI, space and quantum, which we look forward to leveraging through FRIL. We look forward to continuing our work with industry, policy makers, regulators and innovative SME's to drive actionable solutions and deliver on FRILs ambitious agenda.”
Nicola Anderson, CEO of FinTech Scotland said: “FinTech Scotland is uniquely positioned within the Scottish fintech industry to lead such an initiative as it will work to inspire collaborators across Scotland, the UK and globally, enabling those around the world to see Glasgow's financial services capabilities.”
“Bringing the fintech community of industry, academics and regulators together to explore, test and experiment with new technologies is an important part of our mission.”
Competitive advantage
Stephen Ingledew OBE, Chair of FinTech Scotland, said: “Once more, FinTech Scotland is taking proactive measures to showcase the effectiveness of how a cluster approach can accelerate the UK’s ability to seize competitive advantage in the future of financial regulation and fintech innovation. FRIL will allow us to continue to endorse the opportunity from the fintech sector to support growth across the UK economy.”
The research will cover various aspects of financial regulation, including the following areas:
- Explainable AI Applications for ESG Risk Management
- Simplifying ESG Regulation Compliance through Explainable Intelligent Automation
- Using Automation and AI to Combat Money Laundering
- Synthetic Data for Financial Regulation Innovation
- Generative AI for Improved ESG Reporting and Monitoring in Financial Services