Tulip Siddiq promises support for the fintech industry
Labor MP for Hampstead and Kilburn Tulip Siddiq has said supporting fintech will be one of her “top priorities” if Labor is elected to form the next government.
The Shadow City minister was speaking at the Innovate Finance ‘fintech as a force for good’ forum, in London’s Canary Wharf last month.
Siddiq said a thriving fintech sector would help ensure the future competitiveness of the financial services industry, as well as play a crucial role in creating jobs and sustainable growth across the country.
She said Labor would continue to support the Financial Services and Markets Bill, allowing regulators to tailor performance-focused regulation to the UK market.
She also promised to work more closely with Europe, in an effort to secure talent and cooperate on regulation.
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“Labour would create technology hubs in each region by establishing a new expert body – Skills England – to co-ordinate efforts between business and the education sector to ensure regions have the skills they need to reap the benefits of technological change”, she said.
“Fintech is already playing a central role in driving green finance and integrating green finance into the capital markets.
“Earlier this year, Funding Options, the business funding platform, launched the UK’s first green finance marketplace to connect SMEs to the finance they need to reach net zero,” she said, highlighting the transition to net zero carbon as the biggest challenge facing the economy in the next decade.
“CoGo, the open banking platform, enables consumers to see the carbon impact of their purchases,” she added. “The app can also suggest businesses to support and as a result it is already changing the behavior of major players. For example, they have formed a partnership with NatWest who have integrated CoGo into their core NatWest banking app.”
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On the cost of living crisis, she cited short-term loan company Karma, which is disrupting payday loan companies by offering employees up to £300 of their salary up front, at zero per cent interest, with no fees or charges.
“This can support people through a particularly expensive or difficult month without trapping them in a dangerous spiral of debt,” she said.
“Or take CreditKudos – a company that builds credit decision products using alternative data, including open bank data, to deliver creditworthiness assessments faster and more accurately for loan providers. This includes helping those without a clear credit history access products from ethical lenders such as credit unions and improving credit scores.”
As such, Siddiq said the UK’s fintech sector should not only be celebrated for the benefits it can bring to the economy, but “as a tool for policymakers to address some of the most pressing issues of our time”.
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