Matt Hyde, Director of FinTech Awards Wales Meets:

David Rozier,

Partner at Deloitte

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As part of a our new interview series, Matt Hyde, Director of Recruit121 and FinTech Awards Wales, talks to a whole host of professionals in and around Wales’ thriving FinTech Sector. This week Matt caught up with David Rozier at Deloitte.

Tell us about your main focus at Deloitte

Deloitte has a strong commitment to Wales with our Welsh offices being the largest in the UK outside of London.  With nearly 1,500 staff based in our Cardiff and Swansea offices we’re supporting the Welsh economy, working with Welsh businesses to enable growth and creating a significant number of opportunities for Welsh people both in the local economy and within out firm.  Deloitte in Wales has continued to grow significantly year on year and as a firm we are very proud of the opportunities we’re creating and the Welsh clients that we’re serving.

My main focus is being an audit partner and my work in the FinTech sector.

What impact do you feel FinTech Awards Wales are making in the FinTech sector in Wales?

It really gives the opportunity for FinTech to have a platform on the Welsh and global stage.  It’s such an exciting sector at the moment with huge growth opportunities so it’s important to recognise the contributions that FinTech companies are making in Wales and the FinTech awards support such recognition.  The potential for FinTech is huge and this sector is receiving a lot of focus and investment from the Welsh government.

Why have you chosen to support the Awards and in particular the Best Growth Story of the Year Award?

FinTech Awards Wales will recognise the achievements of the thriving FinTech sector across the country, bringing Wales’ leading innovators and digital experts together in an evening of celebration. Deloitte sponsored an award category last year so we had first-hand experience of the positive effect the awards and event had on the Welsh FinTech eco-system so it was an easy decision to continue our support again this year.  All the award categories have their own unique value and the ‘Best Growth Story of the Year Award’ is a great one to be sponsoring.  The category nominations this year are top class – it’s been inspiring to hear stories from each of this year’s nominees and it exemplifies the high quality people and businesses we have in Wales.

How do you feel the Welsh economy has fared post Covid and what predictions do you have for the next 12 months?

We’ve seen the FinTech sector in Wales continue to thrive post lock down which highlights the great business ideas and quality of talent we have here.  This is partly down to our established financial services businesses, the supply of high quality talent by our world class universities and colleges as well as the determination and drive of our Welsh entrepreneurs.

The tech market is experiencing a number of challenges at the moment which has seen a reduction of investment by Private Equity and Venture Capital investors.  So the challenges we can foresee will be related to earlier stage companies being able to obtain funding and accelerate expansion.  FinTech Wales and The FinTech Wales Foundry are doing an excellent job of helping to mitigate this risk – Season 3 of the Foundry is about to launch and Deloitte is supporting this helping to bring investors to Wales.

What is Deloitte doing today to support the FinTech in the future?

FinTech is an emerging and important sector for Wales and Deloitte is committed to supporting it.  The firm has a FinTech professional services practice which draws on expertise across all the service lines to advise Fintech businesses.  We have tax, financial advisory, legal and consulting experts focused on this sector, working with many different sized businesses advising them from an early stage.  Deloitte also has a FinTech audit hub based in Cardiff – we’re recruiting heavily into this team because we see great potential in this sector.

FinTech is a sector I’m passionate about – I lead the dedicated FinTech audit practice in the UK and I’m a member of the UK FinTech Executive. I’m also a member of the FinTech Wales Advisory Panel, looking specifically at the skills agenda – new talent and connected talent in Wales.  I’ve been involved in setting up a coding academy working with Cardiff and Vale University and other financial services employers.  We’ve joined forces to create unique, fast-track training programmes designed to meet the growing need for skilled people to fill job vacancies in FinTech.  Another initiative I’ve been involved in is FinTech for Schools working with Innovate Finance.  Together we have launched an initiative that aspires to drive financial inclusion, improve financial literacy and inspire young people to explore career opportunities in FinTech.  This was trialled with 100 students at Cardiff College and our ambition is to role this out across all schools and colleges in Wales.

Finally what’s the best advice you were given and what advice you would give?

About three years ago I made some changes to my life.  I decided to find my purpose.  It’s important to discover your purpose at work because it means you can enjoy work much more.  I now deliver a training session to Deloitte colleagues on finding your purpose in the workplace.  I also think you have to be true to yourself at work.