The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL) has awarded grants of £50,000 each to five Scottish fintech companies, backing the development of solutions designed to strengthen the operational resilience, security, and regulatory responsiveness of the UK financial sector. The grants follow a six-week programme where innovators collaborated with major financial institutions, including NatWest, Morgan Stanley, M&G, and Tesco Bank.
The five selected firms—Profylr, Ionburst, HAELO, Continuity2, and Lupovis—were chosen for their innovative solutions addressing critical industry needs. The initiative was developed in collaboration with FinTech Scotland, Supertech WM, the University of Glasgow, and the University of Strathclyde.
Innovation for resilience and compliance
The selected fintechs offer next-generation solutions aimed at transforming how financial institutions (FIs) manage risk and regulatory compliance:
- Profylr builds intelligent, AI-powered solutions that connect regulatory minutiae with a firm’s data, transforming compliance from reactive oversight into predictive intelligence.
- Ionburst provides an intuitive solution that secures data across the Cloud and updates its security classification on demand, protecting it from threats like ransomware.
- HAELO delivers automated global regulatory horizon scanning, tracking changes across hundreds of regulators and millions of documents to distill actionable insights.
- Continuity2 offers a multi-disciplined software platform covering business continuity, IT disaster recovery (ITDR), enterprise risk, and incident management.
- Lupovis provides real-time contextual cybersecurity threat intelligence using a deception environment to offer early identification of advanced attacks and insider threats.
Nicola Anderson, chief executive of FinTech Scotland, stressed the importance of the programme. “Operational resilience is essential for a trusted financial services industry,” Anderson said. She added that FRIL is driving fintech innovation to address these priorities, shaping practical solutions that strengthen the UK’s financial infrastructure.
Building solutions through industry collaboration
During the six-week programme, the innovators worked directly with industry leaders, including KPMG, EY, and Sword Group, to refine and adapt their solutions to real industry needs. The grant recipients will continue to work closely with these partners throughout the development period.
Mick O’Connor, founder of HAELO, noted the value of the collaboration, calling the ability to attend deep dive sessions with customers and directly hear their candid experiences “commercial gold dust”. Anne Lanc, Co-founder of Ionburst, stated that FRIL was a great opportunity to connect with a wide range of FIs to understand their specific challenges and showcase their technology.
Building on the success of this operational resilience programme, FRIL has launched its next UK-wide Innovation Call, focused on the future of Wealth support and advice. Innovating firms across the UK are encouraged to apply to shape the future of inclusive, data-driven financial advice and guidance.
