An overview of the recent FinTechNZ delegation’s trip to London FinTech Week, by Andrew Dentice, Senior Associate at Hudson Gavin Martin.
Following on from the Lord Mayor of London Charles Bowman’s visit to New Zealand, FinTechNZ sent a delegation to London FinTech Week, to strengthen the bond between NZ and the UK (and in particular London). London is arguably the leading hub for FinTech globally, and the UK market is a natural fit for New Zealand FinTech companies looking to expand, given its size and similarity in terms of culture, legal system, and an affinity for technology and innovation.
London FinTech Week is a series of conferences, exhibitions, workshops, hackathons, meetups and parties with 5,000 delegates from over 50 countries participating in events throughout the week. The FinTechNZ delegation included a brilliant group of NZ companies large and small(er), intent on making their mark in the home of FinTech. Xero, JRNY | AI, Vend, Forsyth Barr Limited, Blockchainlabs.nz, Paymark, SavvyKiwi, Hedgebook, Invsta, Ambit, Choice, Arken, and Hudson Gavin Martin.
While in the London, we attended a dinner hosted by the Sheriff of the City of London, Neil Redcliffe, which helped us to forge relationships with decision makers in the UK financial markets. Members of the group also had valuable meetings with Xero UK and Open Banking Limited (the company charged with implementing open banking in the UK) to get the low-down on expansion into the UK and the inside word on the rollout of Open Banking. A breakfast session hosted by Fieldfisher and featuring attendees from Revolut, Transferwise, Qadre was a great opportunity for a detailed discussion of legal and business issues and opportunities in the UK.
We also explored the opportunity to discuss the FinTech relationship between NZ and the UK from a trade perspective, at a roundtable session with representatives from the Financial Conduct Authority, HM Treasury, Department for International Trade (DIT), Innovate Finance, MFAT and NZTE. We discovered there is plenty we can do from the top down, including closer regulatory relations, while leveraging existing FinTech Bridge and FTA discussions. But more importantly, we covered what we can achieve from the ground up by forging strong commercial relationships and partnerships – a key outcome achieved over the course of the conference week.
A big thank you to Dhaval Gore from NZTE and Odette Hurle from UKDIT, who were instrumental in making the trip a success.
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