UK and India strengthen fintech ties
A team of British politicians and fintech business leaders are in India as they seek to strengthen trade and investment between the two nations.
At the 9th UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue, held today (4 April) in Delhi, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, and the Finance Minister of India, Arun Jaitley, discussed their plans in a post-Brexit world.
In a joint statement, Hammond and Jaitley say they “remain committed to supporting the implementation of agreed reforms under the auspices of the Financial Stability Board and Basel Committee of Banking Supervision”.
Fintech was discussed in detail and both say the sector “can improve outcomes for consumers, increase financial inclusion, and monitor and stem flows of black money”.
Both sides “recognised the important role” that fintech will play in supporting India’s move towards a “less cash society”. To that end, they will explore the possibility of a regulatory co-operation agreement between the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Q2 2017.
The feasibility of a UK-India fintech bridge will also be explored – so they’re talking a lot but no definite plans yet.
Joining Hammond on the trip are Bank of England governor Mark Carney; FCA’s CEO Andrew Bailey, and Eileen Burbidge, venture capital investor and the Treasury’s official fintech envoy.
Also included are Julie Lake, founder of FinTech50 – which offers an annual list of innovative European firms; Christoph Rieche, co-founder of online lending firm iwoca; Husayn Kassai, co-founder of Onfido, a global identity verification and background checking provider; and Kristo Kaarman, co-founder of TransferWise.
Tomorrow (5 April), there will be an India-UK fintech conference taking place in Mumbai.
