New trade body UK Finance launches
Six into one
New trade association UK Finance – created as a result of the merger between six domestic associations in the banking and payments space – has officially launched.
As reported in March, UK Finance brings together the Asset Based Finance Association (ABFA), British Bankers’ Association (BBA), Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK), Payments UK and the UK Cards Association (UKCA).
UK Finance says it will represent over 300 fintech firms and its role is to help members “build customer trust, facilitate industry-wide collaboration and innovation, and work with policy makers and regulators in the UK, EU and at a global level”.
The organisation is led by CEO Stephen Jones who has worked at Santander, Barclays, Citigroup and Schroders. Bob Wigley, who has held a number of senior positions in financial services and worked as EMEA chairman of Merrill Lynch and as a member of the Court of the Bank of England, is the chair.
Jones says the UK’s finance and banking sector is undergoing an “exciting transformation with innovation and technology revolutionising customer services” and these changes present “new opportunities and fresh challenges which require a co-ordinated voice to best support it going forward”.
UK Finance’s board will focus on issues of importance to retail, SME and wholesale customers including ethics, financial inclusion, financial fraud, crime, access to markets and diversity.
The trade body will operate from Angel Court in the City of London.
