Welcome to the inaugural edition of FinTech Horizon, our bi-annual round up of horizon scanning items for those in the UK FinTech sector. In each edition we will include a FinTech Feature, where we interview a contact in the FinTech sector for their unique industry perspective. For this edition, we have been speaking to Chris Rees at Render, a next-gen credit technology provider.
The pace of change in the UK’s FinTech sector continues to accelerate, driven by technological innovation, evolving consumer expectations, and a rapidly shifting regulatory landscape. Against this backdrop, FinTechs must navigate a complex web of reforms, from the Financial Conduct Authority’s ambitious five-year strategy to the UK Government’s drive for smarter, more effective regulation.
Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, has announced the upcoming release of the government's first ever Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy on 15 July 2025. This strategy will identify FinTech as a priority sector, aligning with the government's commitment to support growth and investment in UK financial services and foster innovation in the UK through their Plan for Change mission.
This publication provides a summary of upcoming regulatory and market developments shaping the FinTech ecosystem. With areas such as cryptoasset regulation, open banking, operational resilience, and consumer protection at the forefront, the horizon for FinTech is marked by both opportunity and challenge. In this edition, we cover a range of developments including:
Fundraising: the increasing use of alternative funding methods with Advance Subscription Agreements and Simple Agreements for Future Tokens agreements;
Fundraising: plans to introduce a Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES) and why this could be useful for FinTech;
FinTech Feature: a feature interview with Chris Rees of Render, Fintern's B2B arm, who discusses his experience at Render, who are utilising AI, open banking and alternative data in the consumer credit space, and the key opportunities/challenges for fintech in 2025;
Consumer Credit and BNPL: a bumper package of proposed consumer credit reforms and the government's response to the buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) consultation;
Cryptoassets: the draft regulatory regime for cryptoasset regulated activities, and the FCA's roadmap for cryptoasset regulation. Please keep an eye out for our future article on developments relating to the FCA's cryptoasset discussion and consultation papers;
Payments: an update on the key focus of the Payments Systems Regulator (PSR) for the remainder of its strategy before it is retired and consolidated into the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA);
Payments: proposed interim and final rules for improving safeguarding rules for payments and e-money firms;
AI: the implementation of the EU's AI Act and the impact on UK FinTech's that implement systems in the EU, provide services in the EU, or utilise AI outputs within the EU; and
DORA: a reminder of the significant regulatory shift that has taken place with the EU's Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) which came into effect in January 2025.
We hope you find this edition insightful and look forward to your feedback.