Great article in the Irish Independent (26 July) about Dogpatch Labs [@dogpatchlabs] partnering with Ulster Bank [@UlsterBank] in a project which will see the Ulster Bank Innovations team base itself in the technology start-up hub. The Bank’s Innovations team will form part of the 8,000 square feet expansion of Dogpatch Labs into the vaults of the historic CHQ building in Dublin, Ireland. The Bank’s staff will work side-by-side in open plan office space with ‘some of Ireland's most innovative and potentially lucrative technology start-ups in Dogpatch's open-plan offices’.

The deal will also allow Dogpatch Labs expand significantly, providing new office space, meeting rooms and a dedicated event space into the vaults of the CHQ building. Dogpatch Labs is home to the likes of Irish company Intercom, which raised $23 million in funding earlier this year, and IDA backed Udemy, which raised $65 million of funding in June.

Why is Ulster Bank getting involved?  Well according to Maeve McMahon, director of customer experience and innovation at Ulster Bank, the partnership is "a really exciting and interesting collaboration", and is as much about the bank learning from start-ups that are disrupting the traditional financial services market as it is cornering the potentially lucrative financial technology (FinTech) start-up market.

"There is also an obvious commerciality to this venture for us, and we have a very good high potential start-up package in Ulster Bank that we can make available to these companies. By being based here and working side by side with them we can understand better what they do and can potentially back them as companies with expansion capital", she said.

Patrick Walsh [@pwlsh], co-owner of Dogpatch Labs says that Ulster Bank was the right bank for the co-working space to partner with because it "understood the vision and is open to innovation", but also because the bank is part of the International Bank One Solution (IBOS) group.

"The whole point of FinTech start-ups is to scale outside of Ireland. The ability to plug into an international banking network through RBS in the UK, but also through their IBOS partners like Silicon Valley Bank in the US, is invaluable. We couldn't get with another bank in Ireland", he said.

Hugo Mahony, Business Development lead with Dogpatch, added that in the coming months Ulster Bank will launch "the 'FinTech Fireside Chat Series', featuring some of the leading names in Irish tech today".

Fintech Ireland [@fintechireland / @oakeslaw] meet both Patrick Walsh and Hugo Mahony a little while ago and we have to say how impressed we were with not only their enthusiasm and business acumen but in particular their genuine commitment to fintech and startups.  If you haven’t checked out Dogpatch Labs, do yourself a favour and follow them on twitter and visit the website at http://www.dogpatchlabs.com

http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/news/ulster-bank-and-dogpatch-labs-break-into-vaults-31404001.html

Getting to grips with Ireland’s Fintech Advantage
Mastering the basics is the difference between Ireland achieving premier league or second division status as a Fintech hub 

Irish Minister Simon Harris TD [Mr Harris is Minister of State at the Departments of Finance, Public Expenditure and the Department of the Taoiseach, with special responsibility for International Financial Services] This Open-Ed by the Minister is available in pdf format here.

Recent weeks have seen the business pages of this paper and others peppered with encouraging signs on the financial services front.

Realex acquired by Global Payments for €115m, Currency Fair raising €10m on the markets to fund their further expansion, Sentenial launching their Nuapay service as a bank alternative for business customers, while last week Marsh McLennan added 100 high-skilled jobs to their workforce with the creation of a Fintech Innovation Centre.

In isolation they are a series of Irish and IDA-supported companies cutting a swathe on the fast moving Fintech scene, and this is to be welcomed.

Together they represent something considerably more. Something I am acutely aware of and actively addressing in the context my responsibility to advance the Government's International Financial Services' Strategy, IFS2020.

Together they represent a valuable niche in the international marketplace Ireland can really put its stamp on. Taking on the mantle of a premier global Fintech hub is an opportunity that requires an alignment and leveraging of the many advantages Ireland has worked long and hard to achieve.

Our proximity and strong links to the City of London, our place at the heart of the Eurozone, our recognition as a leading European Financial Services Centre, and our deep cultural and commercial ties with the US situate Ireland as a nexus and hub for transatlantic financial services' activity.

Our big tech and big data advantages are many. The company listings, spanning Apple to Zynga, reads like a who's who in the ICT hall of fame. While Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Apple setting up data centres across the country prove that Irish clouds really do have a silver lining.

These human and capital votes of confidence in Ireland lend both the critical mass and fertile hinterland around which indigenous companies can cluster, thrive and expand as either direct service providers or emerging out from a vibrant ICT community and start-up cultural.

A third element, and indeed the catalyst behind the inexorable rise of Fintech on the global stage, is that financial services and ICT are increasingly two sides of the same coin. A look around Citi's Dublin Innovation Lab bears scant resemblance to traditional conceptions of what one would term a bank, while Apple Pay and Google Wallet assert these tech companies' advance as dominant players in the areas of mobile banking and merchant services.

To borrow the words of O'Casey's Captain Boyle, the financial services' world is truly in a 'terrible state o' chassis'. In business and tech circles this 'disruption' is challenging every aspect of financial services. In many cases previous providers of ICT services to established banks, insurance companies, and investment houses have decided to cut out the middleman and go straight to the consumer and business customer.

Likewise, established financial service providers, conscious of the changing landscape, are working hard to catch up. Some by way of acquisition of or partnering with tech companies, others by way of stimulating an entrepreneurial spirit and start-up culture amongst their workforce and organisational structures.

All in all, challenging and interesting times.

Since taking up my role as Minister of State for International Financial Services, my first challenge has been to better co-ordinate our Public Sector to be more responsive and alive to current and future trends.

In the course of my consultations with industry my Damascus moment was a visit to the Enterprise Ireland stand at Paddy Cosgrave's Web Summit last November. The energy and ambition radiated by these Fintech entrepreneurs was contagious, and confirmed for me that this was an area to be overlooked at one's peril.

Since that day I have made it my priority to work to foster and develop Ireland's Fintech and innovation ecosystems.

This includes, in the near term, implementing several cross-cutting measures to foster a pipeline of talent, to open up access to funding and expertise for Irish startups, and to work with other stakeholders to address the pressing need for enterprise space - both for startups looking for a first foot on the ladder and established SMEs eager to expand.

In the two months since launching the IFS2020 Strategy I have been impressed by the responsiveness of the public sector to come together to propose options and avenues to advance these measures, and by industry's openness to find a common ground so as to better communicate with Government and ensure that Ireland can compete in an increasingly competitive market place for ideas, drive and talent.

I am firmly of the view that getting to grips with the basics of communication and collaboration will unleash our potential to allow us outshine competitor locations as a destination of choice.

Recently the Taoiseach pointed out that bringing our unemployment down from 15pc to under 10pc was a massive undertaking to undo the failures of past administrations, and that moving from below 10pc to full employment is an equally difficult and important task of responsible Government.

I am convinced that Fintech is such a route beyond recovery to a sustainable and prosperous future. The task of Government is now one of continuing to deliver sure-footed policy in tandem with a robust and responsive regulatory regime to ensure that an innovative, expanding and highly-prized sector can thrive in line with our innate and cultivated advantages.

Positioning and promoting Ireland as a pre-eminent Fintech hub is a step in that direction.

END


Fintech Ireland FintechIreland

Yesterday we published Peter Oakes' presentation on fintech at the Financial Services Ireland event in Dublin.  Mr Oakes' presentation is here.

Earlier today (29 May 2015) the Central Bank published the speech given yesterday by Bernard Sheridan, Director of Consumer Protection at the Central Bank of Ireland.  Click here for the speech.

A couple of points to note, Mr Oakes and Mr Sheridan were on a four person panel together with Colm Lyons (PaywithFire), and hosted by Marc Coleman, Director of Financial Services Ireland.  As the event was a private event we will not disclose the content of discussions but rather point to information in the public domain.  

A few points to note:

• Mr Oakes and Mr Sheridan are former colleagues at the Central Bank of Ireland where Mr Oakes was the Director of Enforcement and Financial Crime and Mr Sheridan is Director of Consumer Protection.  Mr Oakes was a member of the Senior Management (Leadership) Committee and also sat on the Policy and Supervisory Risk Committees of the Central Bank together with being members of other Central Bank fora.  
  
• In an article appearing in the Sunday Business Post on 12 April 2015, Mr Oakes was quoted as saying 

1. 'The perception is that the Central Bank is not a great regulator to deal with from the startup scene, or if you’re moving into the financially regulated space,” said Peter Oakes, who is driving the Fintech Ireland project'.
   
2. 'People feel there’s no clarity around timelines to get regulated. That hurts us in two ways. One, people will drop out and choose another jurisdiction, and two, rumours and stories are going around international financial markets that it’s best to avoid Ireland.'
   
3. 'Every jurisdiction in fintech is going to have its own angle, but unless Ireland is out there telling its story, nobody’s going to know about it, and we’re not going to get the business. That’s the real issue.'
   

• See our previous post here and click here for a copy of the article in the Sunday Business Post (twitter @jackhojo)

• The above points were addressed by the Central Bank in its speech.  Our feedback together with that of others has been heard by the Central Bank and yesterday's statements are very reassuring. If you are interested in the Central Bank's authorisation process and how it relates to Fintech, note the following from the Central Bank:

• "Our authorisation process is subject to on-going review and we have been considering how we can move to a more effective and facilitative approach to progressing applications which meet the authorisation standards.  Feedback received from a number of sources has been useful in helping us review and refine our approach.  We have identified a number of key principles to underpin our authorisation approach and specific areas which we believe will assist us in moving to a speedier, more streamlined and effective authorisation model including:

1. Accessibility – we will be offering potential applicants the option of an initial meeting with us to discuss the application process and key areas that need to be addressed in any formal application. This is designed to enable firms to focus on making their formal application rather than engaging with us on specific details in a pre-application process. We will also continue to deal with questions/queries from applicants during the authorisation process should they arise.
2. Transparency - we will be further streamlining the authorisation process to ensure that all applicants have a better sight and understanding regarding the authorisation process and, importantly, the stage that their application is at and the next steps in progressing the application.
3. Timelines – following the receipt of an application, we will be clearer with applicants on the expected timelines involved in reviewing their application.

• We will continue to review the effectiveness of this approach in order to ensure it is working to achieve all of our objectives."  HTML version of speech here
  

Slides from Peter Oakes' presentation (founder of Fintech Ireland*) at Financial Services Ireland  on 28 May 2015 are available here.  Peter covered topics of:

• What is FinTech
• How big is Fintech
• Recent regulatory developments in Australia, UK and Ireland
• A look at the impact of the Payment Services Directive and the number of e-money and Payment Institutions authorised in Europe 
• The way the Central Bank of Ireland looks at risk through PRISM
• Recent comments by former European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services (Charlie McCreevey) on what the Commission intended when it passed the PSD 

Thanks to the Financial Services Ireland for arranging this great event.   

*Fintech Ireland (CRO 523657) is registered with the Companies Registration Office

www.fintechireland.com

UK's Payment Systems Regulator published its Policy Statement on 25 March 2015 setting out its policy decisions and a package of measures to  enable it to start addressing its objectives. These measures are aimed at ensuring:

• an improved strategy setting process;
• improving governance of payment systems; and  
• access to payment systems is provided without unnecessary barriers or burdens.

This statement also marks the start of an ambitious policy work programme for the PSR including two market reviews, into the ownership and competitiveness of infrastructure provision and into the supply of indirect access to payment systems, and a card payment systems programme of work.

This is further evidence that the UK is on a mission to become a global fintech hub.  We have published the news here because of the direct impact,  such high level UK policies and strategies when supported by all corners of industry, has on competing jurisdictions on Ireland.  See the post below on Ireland's IFS2020 Strategy.