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The Connector Podcast - DFS Digitail Finance Summit - UK Fintech Expansion: Laure on Catalyzing Innovation Beyond London and Introducing Global Fintech Leaders
What if you discovered that the epicentre of fintech innovation isn't just in London? Today, we're thrilled to welcome back Laure Hindin, also known as Laure, the Senior Trade Advisor at the British Embassy in Brussels. Laure shares her expertise on the dynamic UK fintech scene that extends its influence beyond the capital, flourishing in regions like Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Laure's passion for highlighting the UK's fintech prowess shines through as she discusses how this vibrant sector, spawning 27 fintech unicorns and contributing around £11 billion to the economy, is revolutionizing the global market.
Prepare for an engaging session as we discuss the UK's strategic presence at the DFS event in Brussels. Laure introduces us to five remarkable UK fintech companies making waves internationally: Blink Parametric, Encompass Corporation, Flexis, MDOTM, and Petilia. These innovative companies span a variety of niches, from insurtech to AI analytics, each offering cutting-edge solutions and representing the diverse landscape of UK fintech. Join us to explore the stories behind these companies and how they're poised to reshape the fintech arena globally.
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Koen Vanderhoydonk
koen.vanderhoydonk@jointheconnector.com
#FinTech #RegTech #Scaleup #WealthTech
Welcome to the Connector Podcast, an ongoing conversation connecting fintechs, banks and regulators worldwide. Join CEO and founder Cohen van der Hooydonk as you learn more about the latest available trends and solutions in the markets.
Speaker 2:Welcome to another podcast live from DFS here in Brussels, and I've got with me Laure, and Laure is from the British Embassy, and it's not the first time that you're in this podcast.
Speaker 3:No, hi everybody. It's actually my second time here. I'm really happy to be back. So, for those that did not listen to my podcast of last year, my name is Laure Hindin. Laure Klinkenmaier, senior Trade Advisor at the British Embassy in Brussels, podcast of last year. So my name is lauren dean lauren clink, my senior trade advisor, the british embassy, brussels and can you tell us a little bit what brings you here and what?
Speaker 2:what do you guys do in the fintech industry?
Speaker 3:definitely so, for I was just uh to bring a bit of context about my role yes, please so I said I'm part of the department for business and trade, so my role as trade advisor is really to help and support UK tech companies that want to export to Belgium, but also Belgian stakeholders that would be looking for UK tech. So we're present at DFS for the second time with the Country Pavilion with five different it's quite big actually.
Speaker 3:It's quite big. Yeah, it's a really beautiful stand as well, so feel free to come and say hi.
Speaker 2:I agree.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you. We have five different UK fintechs present this year, just as last year, actually so pretty happy about this.
Speaker 2:So now I'm very curious to learn a little bit. Who did you bring this year?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So the five companies all come from different sides of the fintech world, because obviously fintech is quite of a broad sector, so we try to be diverse. We have Blink Parametric, encompass Corporation, flexis, mdotm and Petilia. So Blink Parametric is more into the insurtech side, so they transform traditional insurance offerings into service experiences. Encompass is more into the KYC side, so they enable fast, accurate identity validation and verification of customers. Then we have MDOTM, which is more into the generative and analytical AI side of things for the financial sector, so very topical. And then we have two SaaS companies. We have Flexis, which is more into the debt management and collection software, and we've got Petilia, which is more into the rec tech and compliance department.
Speaker 2:So you were not lying. It's literally a variety of fintechs that you bring.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but the UK fintechs sector is really, really active and really diverse, so it's actually I'm really happy to be able to represent that today with our different companies.
Speaker 2:And can you shed us a little bit of a light? When you say it's quite active, what does that mean? What does that compass?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so the UK fintechs. Well, the UK is not only London, To begin with. It's a very big country with a lot of different companies. So, for example, we have 27 fintech unicorns, which is quite big. I think in Belgium now there are five unicorns, but obviously the UK is a much bigger country than Belgium is.
Speaker 2:We need a runner-up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but then the sector of fintech contributes to around 11 billion pounds to the economy, which is quite big as well, and you've got this really vibrant ecosystem of companies all over the UK, like in Scotland, in London, in Wales, and every region has a bit of its own. You know speciality as well, but it's really nice and you can also see that on our pavilions we have companies coming from London or England, but you also have a Scottish company. You've got a Northern Irish company, so you've got a bit of variety to really represent this diversity that exists in the UK.
Speaker 2:So it's literally the United Kingdom of fintech.
Speaker 3:Yes, that's it.
Speaker 2:And what brings you actually to DFS united kingdom of fintech yes, that's it.
Speaker 3:And and what brings you actually to dfs? So, really, our goal today is well, first of all is to give these companies the opportunity to showcase their solutions. Um, but also, I see my role as a perhaps it's a rag on to say this, but as a bridge builder I like that.
Speaker 2:I'm the connector too, so we have something in common, that's fine.
Speaker 3:It's really to bring together the Belgium and the UK ecosystem, to bring people together. So we wanted to represent, as I said, this diversity and this innovation that exists in the UK, to bring it to Belgium, to showcase it to Belgian stakeholders, but also for these companies to meet the Belgium fintech ecosystem, which, which is also really alive as we can see here today at dfs and um.
Speaker 3:You know we really want to have a win-win situation. So to to, you know, bring innovation and bring people together is really the goal today, and we also have an investment uh angles. We have a colleague who is there, um alias, will be present at the international stage later on today. That will really, um, you know, present to to the belgian audience. What is the uk, what is the uk fintech ecosystem and if you want to grow in the uk, what are the next step and how can we support?
Speaker 2:you. Unfortunately, I do not have them in my podcast now, so I'll ask you the question so. So what is it actually on UK? What is happening and has it changed over the years?
Speaker 3:No, I don't think so. I think, as I said, the UK ecosystem, fintech ecosystem is really vibrant, really vivid, in terms of Belgium, uk. We can see that at least from my end. I see that on Belgium and people are still very interested in UK. They see the UK as a fintech innovation hub and so for the UK, well, the fact that we already have five companies this year and last year coming to Belgium is really a sign that Belgium is really an important market for them. We had really good interest and that's actually really, really good, and we see it also in my day-to-day job outside of DFS that there is a lot of interest from the UK to explore the Belgian market and to get connected and get to know more.
Speaker 2:I think what I see as out of experience is that a lot of companies out of the UK, they are interested also to land in continental Europe, and would you then see that Belgium is a bridge to that?
Speaker 3:That's a good question. I think that's more of a question for my colleague from Alex Fitt in Brussels because I do cover, as I said, the UK companies wanting to export to Belgium. So not the lending part, but my role is kind of similar to those trade and investment agencies here in Belgium. Export to Belgium so not the lending part but my role is kind of similar to do straight in investment agencies here in Belgium. So, but my colleague Elias is helping Belgian companies I want to set up or just grow in the UK, but we do work quite closely with the agencies in Belgium.
Speaker 2:But maybe a little bit about the why. Why should continental europe company actually go to the uk market?
Speaker 3:um. Well, as I said, it's a vibrant ecosystem, so you've got a lot of opportunities there.
Speaker 3:In the uk, I think companies, fintech companies have raised around, I think, five billion um in total, which is quite a nice amount and there is around 2500 fintech companies in the uk, so it's a much bigger ecosystem than belgium, but that well, that can be also explained by the size of it, um, but I think there is a lot of opportunities in the uk and that can be also a gateway to other markets, such as belgium is for perhaps continental europe, but the uk can be, you know, gateway to, to other markets such as the us or any things like this.
Speaker 3:Um, so yeah, but if you have any questions on why the UK and why you should go to the UK, I would advise you to first to reach out to my colleague, elias Elias Lehman from the investment team, or to listen to his presentation later on today.
Speaker 2:No, that's a good tip. Maybe a little bit on UK as a market, because you mentioned a lot. It's a vivid fintech ecosystem, but is it also because demand supply, so there's also a larger demand from the banking industry?
Speaker 3:I think do you mean from Belgium.
Speaker 2:No, within the UK. So on the local market, are there? I mean traditionally, there are a lot of within the UK. So on the local market, are they? I mean traditionally? There are a lot of banks in the.
Speaker 3:UK yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's a very mature market in terms of banking landscape.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that perhaps can be explained by this as well and also by all the different ecosystem, different hub, different association that are there to help companies out there in the uk. That can be explained that the ecosystem is quite alive and kicking alive and kicking.
Speaker 2:I like that. I like that. Um, when people want to see you alive and kicking, laura, how to? How do they can? How can they find you?
Speaker 3:yeah. Well, if you're here at d today, you can just come and say hi at the stand To the nice booth.
Speaker 3:Yeah to the nice booth. It's a really pretty one, I must say Not to brag about it, but it's really nice. Otherwise, there are different ways to reach us. You can either reach out to me on LinkedIn, laure Klinkenmaaie, or also reach out to our LinkedIn Embassy channel, so it's just British Embassy Brussels. It's really simple. We do put quite a lot of information on there. So if you're interested about upcoming events, upcoming things we are planning in the tech ecosystem, you can also see more information on there. But otherwise, just feel free to reach out. We're happy to to get in touch with you and to discuss and see how we can can support both from the trade or the investment perspective thank you very much for having you in this podcast and thank you very much for having me and have a pleasant stay here at dfs thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much thank you also to the audience and please stay tuned. More news news coming from DFS. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to another episode of the Connector podcast. To connect and keep up to date with all the latest, head over to wwwjointhekonnectorcom or hit subscribe via your podcast streaming platform.