Innovate Finance


Innovate Finance is an independent, non-profit membership-based organisation and industry body serving the United Kingdom's financial technology community.

History

Innovate Finance is an independent membership association that represents the UK’s global FinTech community. Founded in 2014 and supported by the City of London and Broadgate, Innovate Finance is a not-for-profit that advances the country’s leading position in the financial services sector by supporting technology-led financial services innovators.
At the launch of Innovate Finance, UK Chancellor George Osborne backed the initiative and promised to support efforts to promote the UK as a global fintech leader. Osborne said: "It’s only by harnessing innovations in finance, alongside our existing world class knowledge and skills in financial services, that we’ll ensure Britain’s financial sector continues to meet the diverse needs of businesses and consumers, here and around the globe, and create the jobs and growth we all want to see in the future."

Membership

It was launched with 50 founding members including Ratesetter, Transferwise, Azimo, Digital Shadows, HSBC, Barclays and IBM. Each member pays a fee that is tiered depending on the size of the company.

Membership benefits

Innovate Finance's work includes the following core activities:
Policy and Research
Events and Programmes
PR and Communications

Financial model

Innovate Finance is a not-for-profit organisation. It is supported by the City of London Corporation, as well as via annual membership fees. Membership fees vary based on revenue and capital raised by the organisations wishing to join, allowing Innovate Finance to cater to the smallest pre-seed startups as well as larger financial institutions. It is based in Moorgate at 2 Finsbury Avenue.

Governance model

The current CEO is Charlotte Crosswell, who was previously CEO at Nasdaq NLX. Previous CEOs include entrepreneur Lawrence Wintermeyer who was one of the original driving forces for the organisation, along with Claire Cockerton, who was previously deputy head of the Level39 accelerator..
The Innovate Finance board is composed of Natalie Ceeney and non-executive directors, Iain Anderson, Chairman of Cicero Group, Sue Hunter, Partner at Frog Capital, Danny Lopez and Kirsten English, CEO of Style Research.

Media coverage

Innovate Finance has been covered extensively in global publications including Bloomberg, The Economist, Fox Business News, Australian Economic Review, The Independent, CNBC, City AM, The Guardian, American Banker, Euromoney, and the BBC.