Accenture-Supported Programme to Foster IT Innovation in Financial
Services Attracts Entrepreneurs to London
LONDON -- (Business Wire)
Seven financial technology entrepreneurs have been selected to
participate in the inaugural FinTech Innovation Lab London launched by
Accenture (NYSE: ACN), leading banks and venture capital companies last
year. The Lab is designed to nurture early-stage companies developing
new technologies for the financial services sector.
The FinTech Innovation Lab London is a collaboration between Accenture
and leading financial institutions in London, supported by the Mayor of
London, Boris Johnson, the City of London Corporation and the Technology
Strategy Board. It provides senior level mentoring for entrepreneurs to
help them develop and commercialise their innovations, and connect with
potential customers at top institutions. Accenture is hosting the 2013
FinTech Innovation Lab London, at Level39, Europe’s largest financial
technology accelerator space, based in Canary Wharf.
The seven start-ups – chosen by leading industry executives from a large
field of applicants from the UK and internationally – include:
BehavioSec, Calltrunk, Digital Shadows, Growth Intelligence, Kiboo, Open
Bank Project and Waratek. Their innovations range from cloud development
tools and “Big Data” security and analysis applications, to search
engines for voice recordings, “behavioural biometric” solutions for
fighting fraud, open source technologies, and personal financial
management tools for young people.
Richard Lumb, Group Chief Executive-Financial Services at Accenture
said: “It was a tough task selecting from such a strong field of
applicants but we are delighted with the seven chosen entrepreneurs. We
believe these innovations can add significant value to the financial
sector, and bring benefits to both businesses and consumers.”
London's Deputy Mayor for Business and Enterprise, Kit Malthouse, said:
“This project has great potential to bring radical new innovations to
our financial services industry and strengthen London’s position as one
of the world’s leading financial centres. I wish the best of luck to
this year’s FinTech Innovation Lab London’s innovators and
entrepreneurs.”
The chosen entrepreneurs will be mentored for 12 weeks by leading
executives from financial services, venture capital and angel investment
firms through a series of panel discussions, workshops, leadership
coaching and networking opportunities. At the end of the programme, the
entrepreneurs are given an opportunity to present their concepts to
potential investors and participating industry executives.
Supporting financial institutions include Bank of America Merrill Lynch,
Barclays, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC,
JPMorgan Chase, Lloyds Banking Group, Morgan Stanley, RBS, UBS and
VocaLink, the UK national payments infrastructure provider. Other
participating organisations include Euclid Opportunities, the Greater
London Authority and UK Business Angels Association.
The FinTech Innovation Lab London is modelled on a similar programme
that was co-founded by Accenture and the Partnership for New York City
Fund, which has already proved highly successful in helping a dozen
young financial technology start-ups.
2013 FinTech Innovation Lab London participants:
- BehavioSec. Based in Sweden, BehavioSec has developed a
“behavioural biometric” software platform that helps confirm desktop,
website or mobile users’ identities by analysing the unique patterns
in how they type, click and swipe on their computers and mobile
devices. It offers companies an additional layer of security beyond
conventional usernames and passwords to help fight fraud.
- Calltrunk. UK-based Calltrunk has created a cost-efficient
call-recording solution that provides a search engine allowing users
to do text searches of audio, such as recordings from call centres,
videos, lectures and conference calls. By making the review and
management of recordings as simple as searching through email
archives, it can help companies improve customer service, compliance,
productivity and operational efficiencies.
- Digital Shadows. The UK-based company offers a cyber-monitoring
service to help identify and monitor companies’ so-called “digital
footprints” – information posted online by organisations and employees
that amasses over time via social media, cloud services and mobile
devices. The service can give companies an outside-in view of their
digital presence and help address potential security vulnerabilities.
- Growth Intelligence. UK-based Growth Intelligence provides
companies with timely sales-leads, helps improve portfolio and risk
management and informs marketing strategies. Nearly all companies
release digital information on the web; Growth Intelligence interprets
that information using predictive analytics to deliver real-time
intelligence on the activity and performance of companies throughout
the economy.
- Kiboo. US-based Kiboo has developed a personal financial
management platform geared for young adults from the age of 13. It
positions the company’s insights about younger generations’ habits and
expectations at the centre of its communications. The platform
provides online and mobile tools, including social networking
features, to help users learn about finance, earn money through
savings, work and investments, and save, spend and give more
effectively.
- Open Bank Project. Created by Berlin, Germany-based TESOBE, the
Open Bank Project is an open source Application Programming Interface
(API) and management platform for the banking industry that enables
banks and third-party developers to more rapidly and cost-effectively
deliver tailored applications and services to their customers. For
example, TESOBE has used the platform to develop a "social finance"
application for banks that helps clients, such as non-profits, be more
financially transparent by reporting transactions to outside
stakeholders.
- Waratek. Dublin, Ireland-based Waratek has created a new
technology that could help companies significantly reduce their
infrastructure costs. It makes it possible to use one of the world’s
most common programming languages (Java) to develop cloud-based
applications and to transition existing applications to the cloud. By
increasing the amount of Java applications that can run on a single
server – through a new form of “Java virtualization” - it can
dramatically reduce infrastructure costs, lower development costs and
promote cloud usage, helping institutions build and improve key areas
like online and mobile services more quickly and efficiently.
"Financial services firms are reliant on innovative technology to help
provide new products and services to their customers, and also to help
them win new customers in an increasingly complex and competitive
marketplace,” said Garry Tait, Head of IT Operations, HSBC Technology &
Services. “The quality of the companies attracted by the FinTech
Innovation Lab London is excellent, and is one of the main reasons why
we at HSBC are so committed to supporting it."
“Citi is proud to partner with the FinTech Innovation Lab here in
London, global leader in financial services, technology and a key hub
for entrepreneurs. We are delighted to collaborate with and mentor some
of the best minds in the technology world.” said Terry O’Leary, Citi’s
Head of Operations and Technology for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
“At Citi, ingenuity is at the heart of everything we do; with innovation
labs in Dublin, New York, Poland, San Francisco and Israel. We see
innovation as a key driver of business growth and delivering great
products and services to our customers in the highly competitive
business environment we operate in.”
“We are excited to be part of this inaugural year for FinTech Innovation
Lab London after such a wonderful experience working with the companies
in New York. In the financial services industry, we continuously try to
discover new, innovative products. Through this program, we look forward
to supporting technology entrepreneurs who can help contribute to the
innovation pipeline for our industry,” said Jason Shane, EMEA Head of
Equities & Prime Services Technology at Credit Suisse and Raymond
Mulligan, CIO Front Office Technology, EMEA at Credit Suisse.
Guy Chiarello, Chief Information Officer for JPMorgan Chase and one of
the participating mentors, said: "Technology is a strategic
differentiator for financial services firms. We are thrilled to be
participating in and supporting the FinTech Innovation Lab London, and
look forward to fostering this class of talented technology innovators.”
Shaygan Kheradpir, Chief Operating Officer of Barclays Retail and
Business banking said: “It’s great that these seven entrepreneurs have
been selected to participate in the FinTech Innovation Lab London;
mobile technology and digital innovation are the future of financial
services because it's what clients and consumers want and so it’s so
important that we continue to support entrepreneurs and start-ups that
can really progress this further.”
Mike Grimaldi, Head of EMEA Technology at Goldman Sachs said: “This is a
really exciting group of innovative technology entrepreneurs that have
been chosen. It is these types of companies, with the right support,
that have the potential to significantly impact the future growth and
development of the financial services industry in Europe."
“This is a fantastic opportunity for technology start-ups and the
financial services industry to work together. Promoting and supporting
innovation is fundamental to the whole financial services ecosystem and
the FinTech Innovation Lab provides an accelerator for everyone to
engage and participate,” said Andrew Sargison, Managing Director, Global
Head of Investment Banking & Global Capital Markets Technology and
Institutional Research Technology at Morgan Stanley.
Paul Stoddart, Managing Director of Strategy & Business Development at
VocaLink comments: “We are proud to be supporting the 2013 FinTech
Innovation Lab London this year. It will be really exciting to see which
of these fantastic technologies are able to gain the interest of
investors and go on to become an integral part in the evolution of the
financial services sector.”
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and
outsourcing company, with approximately 259,000 people serving clients
in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience,
comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions,
and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies,
Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance
businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of
US$27.9 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page
is www.accenture.com.
Contacts:
Accenture
Molly McDonagh
+ 44 2078444305
+ 44 7825023622
(mobile)
molly.mcdonagh@accenture.com
or
Accenture
Francois
Luu, + 33 6 60 53 84 28
francois.luu@accenture.com
or
Accenture
Sean
Conway, + 917-592-5744
sean.k.conway@accenture.com
Source: Accenture