From: FinTech Global
Only one in four FinTech founders believe the government has been sufficiently supportive during the pandemic, according to a new report from the Digital Finance Forum (DFF).
Having polled more than 100 FinTech founders, the DFF found that even though 75% of them believed the government has supported the wider economy well during the Covid-19 pandemic, only 25% could say the same about the government’s support of the FinTech.
Additionally, over two-thirds of the people polled didn’t think their voice is properly heard in UK policy and regulatory circles.
Moreover, nine out of ten founders believed Covid-19 has made or will make it harder to raise finance in the next year.
Yet, despite this dire outlook, four out of five founders expressed bullishness about the outlook for their business over the next 12 months
“Key themes that came out from many of the respondents pointed to the fact that many FinTechs are not on a level playing field with other startups when it comes to raising S/EIS funding; that it can take ‘way too long’ to obtain authorisations from the regulator; and that changes are need to ensure that the non-bank sector is on a more equal competitive footing to the larger incumbent banks,” said Christian Faes, chairman of the DFF and co-founder of LendInvest
John Glen MP, economic secretary to the Treasury, responded to the survey by saying the “results reinforce my commitment to ensuring the UK’s pre-eminence as a place for fintechs to do business.”
He added, “We have recently launched a major independent FinTech review which will consider how the UK can continue to foster innovation, maintain an ecosystem that supports growing firms, and promote the integration of new technologies across financial services.”
However, this is not the first survey to have found the government’s support to be lacking.
Earlier in August the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Challenger Banks and Building Societies slammed the UK’s regulators for not keeping the neobanks and building societies at the front of mind during the pandemic.
Karen Bradley, chair of the APPG CBBS and MP for Staffordshire Moorlands, said at the time, “The survey results show that challenger banks and building societies have stepped up to the challenge of supporting their customers during the coronavirus but that government and the regulators have struggled to provide guidance and support for the sector that is fit for purpose for smaller financial institutions.”
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