Natalie Ceeney CBE, Chair, thanked Lawrence for his contribution to the success of Innovate Finance. “FinTech is one of the UK’s success stories, now employing over 60,000 people in the UK, and contributing £6.6 billion to the economy. Innovate Finance has played a critical part in enabling and supporting FinTech’s growth, with Lawrence at the helm. He took over as CEO of Innovate Finance when the organisation was only a year old, and has built a strong community of over 250 members, helping their voice be heard by government and regulators. I’d like to say a big thank you to Lawrence for all he’s achieved, and to wish him well in the next stage of his career.”

Lawrence Wintermeyer said: “After two and a half years I have decided to leave Innovate Finance to pursue new opportunities. I would like to thank all of the Innovate Finance members, stakeholders, community, and especially my world-class team, for what has been a breathtaking era for UK FinTech - what our members have achieved is nothing short of outstanding.

It has been an honour and a privilege to serve you knowing together we played our part in making the UK the No.1 FinTech ecosystem in the world.”Lawrence Wintermeyer is stepping down from the end of August 2017, with Charlotte Crosswell taking over as interim CEO during a search for a permanent successor to Lawrence. Charlotte has extensive experience as a CEO, non-executive director and advisor in financial services, both in large institutions (most recently as CEO of NASDAQ NLX) and in leading and advising startups. Charlotte was also a non-executive director of The City UK, and has worked for many years to build strong alliances between government and the commercial sector. Charlotte has been named in Financial News’ Top 100 Women in Finance’ over many years.