City minister pledges fintech transformation with nationwide census

Andrew Griffith told businesses that 2023 will be ‘the year of delivering the next generation of open banking’.

The City minister has stressed that the Government ‘will not rest on our laurels’ in transforming financial services in the UK (Aaron Chown/ PA) (PA Archive)

The City minister has stressed the Government “will not rest on our laurels” in transforming financial services in the UK as he unveiled a new census aiming to reach all of the nation’s fintech firms.

Andrew Griffith, speaking at the Innovate Finance Global Summit event in London, told businesses that 2023 will be “the year of delivering the next generation of open banking”.

It comes as regulators simultaneously announced a new vision for open banking, which can help people and businesses get control of their money by seeing all their financial information in one place.

“Let me be clear because I know some folk have been worried: this will be the year of delivery on the next generation of open banking,” he told the audience.

“Our plan is ambitious but achievable.”

Government isn’t perfect but I hope that when the chips were down, we demonstrated the benefits of being a sovereign nation with the ability and the agility to make its own decisions fast

Andrew Griffith, City minister

Mr Griffith said the annual census, launched on Monday in collaboration with the City of London and Innovate Finance, would run for five weeks and aim to reach all 2,500 fintech firms in the UK.

It would be asking for feedback about the main challenges firms face, the support they would like to see and what international markets they would like to break into.

Businesses at the event indicated it will be important to see the feedback reflected in Government policy down the line.

Mr Griffith also mentioned the collapse of the US’s Silicon Valley Bank last month, with its UK arm bought by banking giant HSBC for £1.

He said: “I know many of you in this room were directly affected by the potential collapse of SVB UK and I’m glad we were able to act decisively to secure an outcome where we able to protect your capital and ensure continuity of banking services.

“Government isn’t perfect but I hope that when the chips were down, we demonstrated the benefits of being a sovereign nation with the ability and the agility to make its own decisions fast.”

The rescue deal followed an intense weekend of talks during which other financial firms, such as UK lender Oaknorth Bank, put forward offers.