Today the Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond announced the Autumn Statement 2016.
“I want to tackle the long lasting problem of fastest growing start up tech firms being snapped up by bigger companies,” said Hammond.
Here are a series of actions that the government will take, which will impact UK FinTech going forward.
- "The British Business Bank will invest an additional £400 million in venture capital funds to unlock up to £1 billion of new investment in innovation firms planning to scale up".
- "The Department of International Trade (DIT) would administer the fund, in addition to commissioning an annual ‘State of UK FinTech’ report on key metrics for investors".
- "The government will also launch a network of regional ‘FinTech envoys’, and has reached an agreement with the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group to provide a focus on guidance around electronic ID verification".
- "HM Treasury will lead a review to identify barriers to access to long-term finance for growing firms, supported by an advisory panel led by Sir Damon Buffini".
Overall these are positive steps that the UK Government has taken to continue and support innovation growth which the UK FinTech community welcomes.