Varadhan Kalidasan

Today we're at the FinTech North Leeds Conference, where Whitecap played a prominent role in the event including helping chair some of the sessions, as part of the opening session Director Julian Wells, presented the launch of the SuperTech WM Professional Services Technology (ProfTech) Research and Innovation Roadmap, standing in for Hilary Smyth-Allen. The roadmap, created from over 150 hours of consultation with industry leaders, academia, and ProfTech stakeholders, is the UK's first unified multi-year plan. It outlines coordinated initiatives across FinTech, PropTech, LegalTech, and InsurTech, setting the stage for future innovation and collaboration. Later in the agenda we shared our recent regional FinTech scaleup research findings, the unique study, born from the collective expertise of three organisations deeply embedded in the UK’s FinTech ecosystem, provides valuable insights into accelerating the growth of regional scaleups. View the reports here: https://lnkd.in/e8Uj3TFT If you couldn't make the conference, you can still catch the last session live from FinTech North LinkedIn page. #proptech #fintech #legaltech #insurtech #proftech

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Does your bank app have an "emergency banking mode", so that when all else fails, their basic offering keeps operating? No, is the answer. If you're banking with an incumbent, the answer is almost certainly no. They've got enough trouble trying to keep the lights on with their primary systems. If you're banking with a neobank, the answer is generally going to be 'no' as well. Most of them don't have anything anywhere near the scale of what Monzo Bank has built. Here's their VP of Engineering Thomas Leitch discussing their approach.

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Monzo Bank breaks even with £15.4m profit by revolutionising #UI and #UX. Driven by its focus on #CustomerService and user friendliness, Monzo has attracted more deposits and more users of its everyday #lending services (including #BNPL). So what’s next for Monzo? And how will it change the UK banking sector, as customers can turn to a bank with top #UX that ships daily software updates? Ben Kimberley MA (Oxon), James Veale, Sam Clark, Ben V., keen to hear your thoughts… https://on.ft.com/4e3chOp

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There’s nothing more entrepreneurial than this feeling…. You may have always dreamt of landing that dream job at Monzo Bank or Aston Villa Football Club (😉)…but when it happens, you still find yourself drawn to your side-hustle 👀 This is something I discussed with Simmy Dhillon, Founder of Simmer over on the 40 Minute Mentor podcast 🎙️ While Simmy landed his dream job at Google, he was still working evenings and weekends to build Simmer. Luckily, he eventually followed his heart and has since built one of the fastest growing meal subscription startups in the UK 🚀 But Simmy isn’t the only one who couldn’t quite focus on the ‘day job’. This is a recurring theme on 40 Minute Mentor, and I’ve heard similar stories from Nick Telson-Sillett and Olivia Ferdi, to name a few. So if you’re currently weighing up whether you should abandon that side hustle, or go all in, make sure you add those episodes to your playlist for this week - you won’t regret it! #40MinuteMentor #Entrepreneurship #Startup #Founder ----------------------------------------------------- 💡 Follow me, James Mitra for more stories on careers, mentorship & building JBM. ♻️ Repost this if you think it can help someone in your network and let me know your thoughts in the comments!

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🤔 Question for you... what do Monzo Bank, Depop, BorrowMyDoggy and Bloom & Wild all have in common? They're all beneficiaries from our Upscale programme! 🧠 Over the years, we've seen many of the UK's most promising companies go from strength to strength in their field as a result of the knowledge, connections and tools they've been equipped with. 🌐 Catering to a whole host of businesses, we've seen alumni establish themselves within a range of industries, from financial services and the metaverse, to florists and dog walking! 💸 The programme caters to ambitious founders and their leadership team during a key point in the startups lifecycle. With an emphasis on series B investment preparation, the programme equips you with a strong support system that allows for rapid expansion and sustainable growth. If you're interested in finding out more about what the Upscale programme can offer you and to apply, follow the link 👉 https://grp.hsbc/6048c1LUq HSBC Innovation Banking | Founders Forum Group | Jos Smart | Chantelle Young | Deanna Emeny | Ellie Steel | Sammy Fry | Johnny M. | Marco De Novellis | Francesca Arese Lucini | Puja DeGamia | Alex Hazell #Upscale #WeAreTechNation #TechNation #Startups #Founders #InnovationForAll #SupportingScaleups #SeriesBSupport

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This upcoming webinar should be of interest to those in my network who are considering core system modernisation/transformation or improving operational resilience of their systems. Whilst Goldman Sachs and Monzo share their perspectives, this won't be exclusively banking focussed, and will have relevance across financial services and other critical industries that depend on their technology systems.

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The ISO 20022 deadline for CHAPS has moved from Nov 24 to May 25... or has it?   It’s worth noting that Bank of England have made it very clear that they will not move the deadline beyond this point!  The Bank of England will expect banks, and their customers to work towards the deadline as if it was still the end of November. The May deadline is just a buffer for those businesses who aren’t ready. In the latest episode of our “Mastering ISO 20022” series, I discuss the updated deadline, and specifically the fact that even this extended timeline still requires banks and corporates to move quickly to prepare.  

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🚨 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗙𝗹𝗮𝘀𝗵: Monzo Bank is planning to go big on business customers and eyes 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 after doubling the amount of business customers in a year. Monzo, which started rolling out business banking products in March 2020, has now hit 450,000 business customers, up roughly 100% since May 2023. Monzo is currently offering its business accounts only in the UK, but has plans to set them up in other regions soon, Jordan Shwide, general manager of Monzo’s business banking team, tells Financial News. More info: https://lnkd.in/edrFAScz Find this helpful? [ 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 ] Anything to add about this subject? [ 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 ] Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ] 

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