/start ups

News and resources on fintech start-ups, scale-ups, hubs, accelerators, VCs and funding worldwide.

UK bids to cut red tape for fintech firms

The UK's Regulatory Innovation Office is to work with the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum to cut red tape for fintechs as they navigate complex regulation.

  1 2 comments

UK bids to cut red tape for fintech firms

Editorial

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community.

Last year, the UK's burgeoning fintech sector attracted $3.6 billion in investment, representing a key pillar in the Government's go-for-growth strategy.

Technology secretary Peter Kyle says fragmented rules and regulatory complexity slow down innovation, delay safer financial products reaching the public, and deter investment.

The collaborative work between the RIO and DRCF will lead to creation of as unified digital library providing ‘one stop’ access to digital policy and regulations for innovators.

Kyle says the initiative will better help fintech firms navigate through the maze of regulations, noting that this could be especially tough for smaller companies, who often don’t have teams of compliance experts on hand.

Sponsored [New Impact Study] How can Businesses Bridge the Gaps in their Cashflow?

Comments: (2)

A Finextra member 

Its unlikely talking about cutting red tape will turn things around for the UK.

In its first twelve months the Labour Government has turned the UK into a hostile environment for innovators and entrepreneurs. The cost of employing people has increased, personal and company taxes have increased, and the burden of employer's responsibilities is shortly to increase further. 

All the while, both the cost of financing the government's debt burden and unemployment have also increased. The economy has stalled with no plan and no understanding of how to achieve growth beyond borrowing further money to pour concrete. Very 1930s.

Labour has no empathy for the motivations of modern wealth creators, nor any understanding of the risk/reward equation that drives the people who actually make growth happen in this country.

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

Does it really matter?

History is replete with several examples of successful startups in regulated industries that have leveraged regulatory gaps, become too big to have to comply, and gotten regulations changed to fit their innovative business models ex post facto. More in my blog posts Fintechs Need Guts More Than Lawyers and Fintechs Need Marketers And Lobbyists, Not Lawyers. In other words, as the old saying goes, "it's better to seek forgiveness than to ask for permission"!

As Reid Hoffman once reportedly said, "Had we known about all the credit card fraud and chargeback rules, we wouldn't have founded PayPal". 

PS: (1) Not legal advice (2) Description not prescription.

[New Impact Study] Exploring the Rise of Originate-to-Distribute (OTD) ModelsFinextra Promoted[New Impact Study] Exploring the Rise of Originate-to-Distribute (OTD) Models