Barclays has long sought to engage with the fintech community, most notably through its Rise platform which has been running accelerator programmes for several years.

Now the bank is stepping up its efforts by bringing in an innovation partner in the shape of Rainmaking, which has built 65 of its own ventures and, through its Startupbootcamp subsidiary, supported over 950 start-ups.

The first initiative to launch is the Rise Start-Up Academy, a non-equity virtual digital skills-building accelerator targeted at idea- and early-stage fintech founders. Applications are already open for founders working in wealth equality, climate, the future of money and more.

At a later date, Rise Growth Academy will be launched to provide capability development around key areas such as investment readiness, recruitment, accelerating sales and leadership development.

A FinTech Venture Studio will also go live later this year and focus on co-developing new ventures through working with internal talent, start-ups and other leading companies.

The partnership will be led by Sonal Lakhani, global head, programmes and strategic initiatives, Barclays Innovation Office, who also led the expansion of the Female Innovators Lab by Barclays and Anthemis last year across the UK and Europe.

Mariquit Corcoran, group CIO, Barclays, says: "We have been humbled and changed by the incredible fintechs we have worked with, and we understand first-hand the power of collaboration to evolve and unlock opportunities for our customers, clients, colleagues and the communities in which we operate.

"We are very excited to work with Rainmaking to further push the boundaries of corporate innovation and ensure collaboration is at the heart of our fintech strategy."