I was honoured last week to be invited to collect an award for most progressive regulation.
The winning regulation that I was proud to be associated with (as a member of the Special Public Bill Committee) was the Electronic Trade Documents Act.
I have written here before about this exciting new law that will remove a legal barrier to the digitalization of trade documents and I was delighted to get on stage and receive an 11:FS Award for what I agree is a worthy winner.
In my acceptance speech, I stressed that the credit should go to an outstanding team, not least Professor Sarah Green and her team at the Law Commission, Sarah is an ex-developer who understands technology and drafted the legislation succinctly and elegantly, my colleagues on the bill committee in the House of Lords, the Minister and bill team at the (now) Department for Science Innovation and Technology and Chris Southworth and his team at the International Chambers of Commerce.
It was up against some stiff competition including (amongst others) the government-brokered HSBC deal for Silicon Valley Bank but the Electronic Trade Documents Act has incredible, transformative potential – and I am glad that has been recognised here.
The Act also put us ahead of all G7 nations in getting legislation passed that incorporates a 2017 UN model law on trade documents. I have called it both the most important law you’ve never heard of and the blockchain bill that doesn’t mention blockchain. Although no technology is named it does set out criteria required to meet a ‘reliable system’. One of the technologies that will easily meet those requirements is a distributed ledger technology such as blockchain.
Given that the vast majority of trade documents globally are governed by English law is this the moment that this technology finds mainstream mass adoption?
I hope so and the judges explained that they selected the Electronic Trade Documents Act as winner of the award for most progressive regulation because “the trade finance space remains ripe for disruption but hindered by hugely complex processes that are largely paper based and slow. This will be a foundational element of opening up future digital journeys.”
It was a great evening and a fantastic opportunity to celebrate other award winners – all of whom in a variety of innovative ways are delivering transformational digital journeys.
One inspiring winner was Nude – a savings app for first-time home buyers that provides access to home buying information and allows users to set savings targets and boost their deposits with government bonuses. The judges highlighted that the app is solving a significant problem faced by a large section of society and awarded the prize for best experience design for a consumer product.
Nude’s focus on a younger (first-time buyer) demographic reminded me of a product shortlisted in the FT Tech Champion 2023 awards in the banking, payments, and ecommerce category. Cleo’s AI budgeting app which plans to relaunch in the UK helps people manage finances, with a light-hearted approach that appeals to a younger, more financially diverse set of users.
The app allows you to select ‘roast mode’ or ‘hype mode’ depending on whether you are motivated by being shamed or celebrated into better financial management. As someone who has been campaigning for greater financial literacy for years, it’s great to see tools like these to help people track their spending and learn about how to manage their money.
Back to the 11:FS awards and the winner for financial wellbeing was banking app Dave which describes itself as on a mission to build products that level the financial playing field. Dave are helping customers aim for specific goals and use technology to do so, as well as understanding the decisions they are making. They are making a real impact on people’s wellbeing and financial literacy in their home market of the US.
The fintech for good prize went to Factoring UA & Espeo Software who have teamed up to help to continue to allow import/export businesses to continue running in the Ukraine, despite the disruption to their invoice flow, in what we know to be hugely challenging circumstances. A powerful demonstration of fintech using its powers for good.
In the FT Tech Champions shortlist another example of fintech for good was Unbox the Universe. The fintech aims to deliver social benefits through “Ucoins”, which operate within a “closed loop system” and can be spent only in specified ways — for example, by recovering opioid addicts, refugees in camps, or citizens of places that want to give local businesses a boost.
Fintech for good was also a clear theme in the markets & financial services category where Opna – a climate fintech that helps companies discover, finance, and manage pre-assessed carbon reduction and removal projects – was shortlisted and the winner, Sylvera, also had an environmental focus. Combining sophisticated technology and carbon measurement methodologies, Sylvera provides ratings and data assessing climate action investments, including carbon credits.
I have always been interested in the potential of fintech and emerging technologies to enable, empower and include. 2023 has been a difficult year in many ways but reflecting on all these brilliant award winners and the proliferation of purposed, people-centred products it gives hope for what can continue to be achieved in the future.
