Bank of England names first fintech cohort for scale-up regulator
The Bank of England has named the first handful of UK fintech talent which will be overseen by the new regulatory ‘Scale-Up’ unit.
Small business lenders OakNorth and Allica Bank – which was named the fastest-growing fintech ever by Deloitte – were listed as two of the firms that had been accepted into the first cohort.
They will be joined by banking-as-a-service provider Clearbank, neobank unicorn Zopa and mass-affluent focused Monument Bank – a firm speculated to be flirting with a US listing.
Rounding off the first cohort is Nottingham Building Society, which has been a vocal critic of the government’s cash Isa reforms branding the Budget’s allowance cut to £12,000 “deeply disappointing”.
The Scale-Up unit was touted by the Treasury “supercharge” the growth of innovative fintech firms and is framed as a joint venture between the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
The unit was first trailed in Rachel Reeves’ Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Summit where the Chancellor attempted to make swings to support the fintech sector.
“Done well, the Scale-Up Unit can support the government’s objective to make the UK the location of choice for financial services firms to invest, innovate and grow,” said Richard Davies, chief executive of Allica Bank.
Meanwhile, Mark Fairless, boss of Clearbank, said: “This new Unit will help ClearBank to accelerate progress on critical initiatives that support our clients and the wider financial services sector in the UK.”
Fintech’s regulation headache
Regulation has remained a top headache for Britain’s innovators, with the fintech industry body Innovate Finance taking aim at the banking watchdog, the PRA, last year for “logic defying” rules.
A report from the body accused the Prudential Regulation Authority’s (PRA) of “excessive” requirements that create an “uneven playing field for UK challenger banks, placing heavy burdens on them.”
Reeves has courted top fintech firms in the last year in the hopes of galvanising fintech listings.
Executives from Clearbank, Atom, Revolut and Zilch met the Chancellor last July to lobby for tax incentives and warned the government it risked losing them to rivals overseas.
The latest figures from Innovate Finance showed the UK tightened its grip on the European fintech crown over the last year but came under growing pressure from fast-growing competitors ramping up their influence.
The UK attracted $3.6bn (£2.7bn) in investment last year, raking in more than the next five European countries combined but only edging above India at $3.4bn.
A surge in investment in the second half of 2025 helped UK fintech hold onto the second place spot for total investment.