UK Government appoints Wales and Northern Ireland fintech envoys

Wales and Northern Ireland are getting their own financial technology envoys as part of a government effort to ensure that the UK maintains its position, post-Brexit, as Europe’s top fintech dog.

The new fintech envoy for Wales will be Richard Theo, co-founder and CEO of Wealthify, while in Northern Ireland his counterpart will be Georgina O’Leary, director of innovation, research and development at Allstate Northern Ireland.

They join Scottish envoys David Ferguson and Louise Smith and ‘Northern Powerhouse’ envoy Chris Sier.

The appointments were unveiled by Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond as he visited Halifax and Edinburgh in an effort reassure the financial services industry that it will continue to “flourish” despite Brexit.

“Fintech is the future of financial services, and the UK leads the world in harnessing its power. Our two new regional fintech envoys for Wales and Northern Ireland will help the sector to grow and flourish across the UK, bringing its benefits to every region,” says Hammond.

The implications of Brexit on the UK’s fintech scene have yet to become fully clear but a new government-backed report suggests that firms continue to be concerned about the fall out.

The Tech Nation 2018 report surveyed more than 3400 members of the technology community, finding that for companies in London Brexit is considered the third biggest challenge. The top challenge is access to talent – something which will again be affected by the UK’s EU exit.