Talent and Skills Programme
Ensuring the UK continues to attract and develop a diverse pool of talented individuals.
Supporting talent and skills in FinTech is a key priority for 2019. We recognise this is one of the biggest issues for our FinTech community. Our Talent and Skills Programme aims to provide a diverse range of ways to get involved and to inspire the current and next generation of innovators. From our FinTech For Schools initiative to an industry jobs board, we want to reach into schools, universities, and companies to promote FinTech opportunities to more talented young people.
We want to involve our members in our FinTech for Schools initiative to help raise awareness of FinTech and support their own talent and skills initiatives.
Objectives
The sector continues to grow rapidly and therefore needs to appeal to a diverse workforce to fill the many exciting opportunities within FinTech companies. That is why Innovate Finance is committed to supporting talent and skills, we released our Supporting UK FinTech report in April 2018 to highlight the UK’s talent pipeline and now, in 2019, we are launching our first initiative FinTech for Schools.
Why is Innovate Finance launching FinTech for Schools?
- To inspire the next generation of FinTech leaders and raise young people’s ambitions for innovation in financial services
- To support a future domestic pipeline of talent
- To encourage young people to understand the increasing importance of digital skills in the workplace, with an emphasis on ensuring the sector is appealing to girls
- To target secondary school students to inspire them at this crucial point in their lives, as they make decisions between universities or more specialised further education such as apprenticeships
- To support Innovate Finance member companies with their skills and talent requirements, by providing an umbrella to tie together the various skills programmes developed across member firms
Where are we now?
76,000
People employed in UK FinTech
1,600
UK FinTech companies
42%
of the UK FinTech workforce is from overseas
Why does more need to be done?
£1.7bn
Total Invested in UK FinTech 2018
6%
of UK deals had a female founder
represented only 3%
of total capital invested in UK FinTech in 2018
FinTech Jobs Board
Innovate Finance has launched a jobs board for the FinTech industry. This is a dedicated online resource to promote all our members’ job vacancies, reach into universities and promote FinTech opportunities to more talented people.
FinTech For Schools
Inform
Inspire
Include
The FinTech for Schools campaign is designed to encourage young people to understand the increasing importance of digital skills in the workplace, with an emphasis on ensuring the sector is appealing to girls.
It has been shown that by the age of 10, children already have a strong sense of identity of what they can and can’t do. Inspiring young girls from an early age, by providing them with a wide variety of role models from diverse backgrounds and skill sets, is a vital first step in creating a new model to deliver real change in terms of diversity.
FinTech For Schools Co-Champions
John Glen MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury
“Financial Technology is changing the future of finance. It’s vital that young people are digitally aware and learn how to use these new products which will no doubt shape their future.
As a rapidly growing segment of the UK economy, FinTech is a key sector for young people when considering their career ambitions. The FinTech for Schools programme is an inspiring initiative, helping school leavers recognise that whatever their strengths, whatever their background, there will be a niche for them in this important industry.”
Jonathan Reynolds MP, Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury
“FinTech has the potential to transform our relationship with finance. We are already seeing exciting new services which help individuals to budget, encourage saving for the future, and can help a wider range of customers access financial products.
The FinTech for Schools programme will hopefully play an important role in educating young people about the new tools they will encounter to help them manage their financial wellness, and encourage a more diverse mix of students to consider a role in the sector to proactively shape the next generation of financial services in a fair and responsible manner.”
Charlotte Crosswell, CEO, Innovate Finance
“We’re delighted to welcome this significant cross-party support for FinTech for Schools – a programme which explores how young people will increasingly use FinTech across their personal lives and how they can work in the sector.
Inspiring students from an early age, by providing them with a wide variety of role models from diverse backgrounds and skill sets. This is a vital first step in delivering real change in terms of diversity in the workplace and encouraging all students to grasp the opportunities available to them in this field.”
Career Events
One of the key ways Innovate Finance is delivering our FinTech for Schools initiative is ensuring we are actively hosting sessions in schools. We are organising regular Career Events to ensure we can introduce FinTech and FinTech companies to students as early as possible and bust some myths about the sector.
We are going into schools to inspire and inform about FinTech as well as showcase all the amazing work our members companies are doing through their own programmes to support the talent pipeline. Starting with City of London Schools, we will be expanding out to more schools both regionally and nationally – private and state.
Featured speakers at one of the first school events on Tuesday 5th March include John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, City of London Corporation’s Alderman William Russell, Innovate Finance’s CEO Charlotte Crosswell and two representatives from Innovate Finance member firms: Oval Money CEO and Co-Founder Benedetta Arese Lucini and Jonathan Naismith, Business Development Manager at Exate Technology.
I am a FinTech
I am a FinTech company or engaged stakeholder in FinTech interested in being more involved in talent and skills. I want to present to the wider world so I need the resources to do that effectively and the opportunity to showcase my brand to more people.
I am interested in FinTech
I am interested in learning more about FinTech. I could be a young student, a teacher or a returnee to the sector. But I would like to learn more about how to be involved and the best ways to get across the FinTech message.
Resources
- Member Programmes & Courses
- Videos
- Presentation Slides
- FinTech Quiz
