In the wake of the 2023 Fintech Awards Wales, Matt Hyde, Director of Recruit121 and the Fintech Awards Wales, engages in exclusive interviews with the sponsors and prominent figures at the forefront of the FinTech sector in Wales.
The Fintech Awards Wales serve as a platform to acknowledge and honour the remarkable accomplishments of individuals, companies, and academic institutions within the Welsh FinTech landscape.
In this special series, Matt introduces you to the key figures driving innovation and progress in this dynamic industry.
This week Matt speaks to Steve Dukes, CEO, Confused.com
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Fintech is a rapidly evolving industry, and Wales has shown remarkable progress in this domain. From your perspective, what unique opportunities or challenges does the Welsh fintech ecosystem present, and how does your organisation contribute to its development?
Historically, investment into fintech has been focused on the South East which has been a challenge for businesses in Wales. But in recent years, Wales has established itself as an increasingly strong fintech network.
The Welsh Government has invested millions into the sector which has really helped create momentum and now investors from outside of Wales are increasingly taking an interest.
Our local fintech ecosystem is growing and very collaborative – that’s one of our stand out strengths.
We’ve been working with Fintech Wales for a number of years now, which gives us the opportunity to help fuel this momentum by working with others. This can be supporting skills development and nurturing local talent or as simple as providing our office space for tech meet-ups and giving like minded people the chance to network – all of these things make a difference over the long term.
What motivated your organisation to become a sponsor of the Fintech Awards Wales, and what do you see as the significance of supporting events like these within the fintech industry?
Confused.com was arguably the first scale fintech in South Wales and we’ve seen the impact that can have.
We want to support other businesses through their success and to build the ecosystem further.
Awards like this are just one of many opportunities to put these businesses on people’s radar. This isn’t just potential investors, it can also be raising awareness with local talent who need to know that they don’t have to ‘head east’ to advance their career in fintech.
The UK has established itself as a global hub for fintech innovation, with London being a prominent fintech centre. How do you see the Fintech Awards Wales contributing to the overall growth and visibility of the UK's fintech ecosystem, and do you believe that regional fintech events, such as the Fintech Awards Wales, play a role in nurturing collaboration and fostering connections within the industry across the country?
We know that when people think of business hubs or ecosystems, it’s London and the South East that will get the main focus.
But there are other areas around the UK, Wales included, that have exciting, burgeoning fintech scenes that deserve increasing attention.
Cardiff, for example, was identified in the Kalifa review as an emerging fintech hub.
Events like this shine a light on these communities and businesses to ensure they are not ‘hidden in plain sight’, which is crucial to do.
Looking ahead, how do you envision the future of fintech in Wales, and how will your organisation continue to support and collaborate with the local fintech community beyond the awards ceremony?
The Fintech scene here has been going from strength to strength. The number of new companies joining the industry and scaling up over the past few years has grown significantly.
What’s exciting is that we’re still in the opening laps of becoming a major fintech ecosystem in the UK, – something that takes many years – but with the support of the community it’s really gathering momentum.
Importantly for us as a local fintech employer, we’re seeing more talent locally and from across the UK recognising that Wales is a great place to work and live.
We’re very proud to be a part of this community and committed to seeing it grow.
We've explored some interesting developments and insights in the fintech space today. On a lighter note, with all the innovative trends in fintech, if you had a magic wand and could bring one futuristic fintech concept to life right now, what would it be and why?
One of the things I love about tech and fintech is the constant desire – and opportunity – to create new ‘magic wand’ experiences for customers.
We see the opportunity to do that again and again at Confused.com. The fact that others in the fintech community are constantly looking to do the same keeps us grounded and focussed – ultimately I think the customer benefits from this intense competition and so we’re delighted to be a part of it.
