CFIT gets started on Kalifa Review Mandate with Open Finance Coalition

The Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) is launching its first ‘Open Finance Coalition’, acting on its mission to position the UK as a global leader in the financial innovation space.

As outlined in the Kalifa Review, CFIT is setting out to  “unlock barriers to growth for financial technology”, and it is starting with proving the power of using financial data to improve financial outcomes for both consumers and SMEs.

More than 20 companies have joined as founding coalition partners, including Monzo, Revolut, Zopa Bank, HSBC, Mastercard and Innovate Finance.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is also supporting the coalition.

“Given the current challenges related to the cost of living, we firmly believe that by leveraging existing data and unlocking new datasets, we can have the biggest impact in the shortest time on the wellbeing of UK SMEs and consumers,” CFIT chair Charlotte Crosswell OBE said.

As a central convening force, CFIT will bring together short term coalitions of experts from across finance, technology, academia and policy-making with the goal of identifying and removing obstacles to growth. 

Aiming to support companies to succeed at a global level, CFIT chose open finance as the topic of the first coalition back in April.

 “Over recent weeks we have engaged, listened and prioritised the areas where the effective development of Open Finance and a modernised ecosystem will provide better financial health for all UK citizens,” CFIT CEO Ezechi Britton said.

“Fintech is an industry that cares about the end user, and the ecosystem has told us they want us to focus on delivering better consumer financial outcomes and SME financing.

“This Open Finance coalition is the first time that such a cross section of the ecosystem has come together to solve complex challenges in this way and on this scale, and we thank everyone who has already committed to working with us.”