The UK needs to embrace ecosystem collaboration to boost fintech

Finextra

27-05-2025

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This content is contributed or sourced from third parties but has been subject to Finextra editorial review.
At recent Innovate Finance Global Summit in London, UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered a powerful message that underscored the country's position as a global fintech leader, and the critical role of innovation in shaping its economic future. It was both a celebration of progress and a call to action.
As she noted, the UK attracted $3.6 billion in fintech investment last year, second only to the US. Nearly half of Europe's fintech unicorns call the UK home, and a third of all UK unicorns are in fintech. From AI and digital assets to open banking and smart data, emerging technologies are clearly at the heart of our growth trajectory.
The Chancellor's message went beyond the numbers. Her core point was unambiguous: the Government is here to back the builders.
To build the future we envision, to stay competitive, and lead globally, with this clear message of commitment, we must also embrace a new mindset, fit for the realities of an increasingly technology-led era. Embedding these innovations into everyday life at scale requires more than just technology deployment. It demands a systems-level way of working.
These technologies can't be treated as isolated solutions. Their real power emerges through integration within business ecosystems, across sectors, and throughout society.
Take the home-buying journey for example. By integrating open finance and AI, we can create a seamless, end-to-end experience, connecting mortgage brokers, banks, estate agents, and insurers in a co-ordinated value chain. Each stakeholder plays a role in unlocking efficiency, transparency, and better outcomes for the customer. That's the kind of systemic integration that turns innovation into impact.
To achieve that, we need deep ecosystem collaboration, shared incentives, and a unifying sense of purpose. Only then can we turn innovation into transformation at scale.
Emerging techs are growth engines, but come with their systemic challenges
There's no doubt that technologies like real-time payments, agentic AI, and open finance are bringing profound transformation to the foundations of our economy. But with this transformation come deep challenges that cut across every emerging tech domain and require co-ordinated solutions:
Interoperability: How do we integrate AI, data-sharing, and digital payments into legacy systems and ensure they work together across banks, fintechs, merchants, and platforms to deliver a seamless experience for end users?
Standardisation: In a fast-evolving environment, how do we strike the right balance between enabling agile innovation and agreeing on standards that ensure interoperability and unlock the biggest impact?
Regulation: How can we protect consumers and uphold public trust without slowing down innovation, or discouraging commercial growth and investment?
Skills: How do we rapidly equip people with the right skills and build the talent pipelines to keep pace with demand?
Trust: How do we build public confidence in the privacy, security, and transparency of these new technologies?
Customer adoption: How do we raise awareness, demystify new tools, and support everyday users in embracing change?
These are not just UK-specific questions, they're global. The nature of emerging technologies is inherently interconnected, cross-border, and fast-moving. That's why the answers must be systemic, not fragmented.
From competition to collaboration: Embracing ecosystem thinking
To fully realise the promise of emerging technologies, we need to move beyond a siloed, company-by-company approach and think and act like an ecosystem: vision aligned, customer-outcome centred, and collaboration-based.
Take open finance for example - it might sound technical on the surface, but at its heart it's about enabling all parts of the financial system to communicate and work together to create better outcomes for everyone: consumers, banks, merchants, fintech businesses, and society, with clear regulatory support. True interoperability isn't something any one organisation can achieve alone. It demands collective action and shared accountability:
'Win-win' business models that reward co-operation alongside competition, ensuring every player in the value chain has the incentive to participate and benefit.
Forward-looking funding models that back innovation efforts while protecting consumers and ensuring fair, long-term growth benefits for all participants.
Clear liability frameworks that define who is responsible when things go wrong across the value chain, building confidence and clarity across the ecosystem.
Above all, customer outcomes must remain at the centre. The technologies we build, the regulations we shape, and the partnerships we forge, all of it must serve creating real improvement to customer's lives and solving real problems. Only by doing this can we gain public trust, understanding, and accelerate truly wide customer adoption.
Building a connected future
We are living in an increasingly interconnected and unpredictable world. AI, digital payments, open data sharing are evolving at unprecedented speed. Global partnerships are shifting. Public expectations around privacy, ethics, and inclusion are increasingly growing. Now is the moment to get it right and lead technology for the good.
Fintech and emerging technologies are not just engines of economic growth, they also open questions for the increasing need for building resilience, privacy, and inclusion. To harness their full potential, we must go beyond simply deploying tools but build with intention.
By embracing ecosystem thinking, aligning across regulation, technology, and businesses, and keeping customer outcomes at the core, UK can the lead not just in innovation, but in creating a more inclusive and connected digital future. Let's build it - together.
The Gillmore Centre series features authors from the Gillmore Centre of Financial Technology at Warwick Business School as they explore new innovations in fintech from an academic perspective. Keep an eye out for more articles from the Gilmore Centre to learn more about new developments in the field.