Scottish Enterprise has committed £3.18 million over three years to Scotland’s Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), a fintech programme which FinTech Scotland says has already enabled £28 million in committed private investment and is projecting a 6:1 economic return for every £1 of public funding.
Run by FinTech Scotland in partnership with the University of Strathclyde, FRIL is positioned as the UK’s centre of excellence for innovation in technology to efficiently meet financial regulation requirements, with the new funding extending its award‑winning model to 2027.
FinTech Scotland reports that FRIL has so far supported 120 fintech SMEs to accelerate solutions, working alongside financial institutions, regulators and other large organisations through structured innovation calls.
By convening this mix of partners, the programme aims to convert regulatory challenges into commercial opportunities, turning early‑stage ideas into products, partnerships and growth‑stage businesses anchored in Scotland.
The new three‑year commitment will see FRIL focus on three regulatory challenge areas where demand for innovation and growth capital is rising.
According to FinTech Scotland, these include ensuring artificial intelligence is adopted in a responsible and explainable way so that consumers and businesses receive fair financial outcomes, strengthening the effectiveness and efficiency of financial crime controls, and keeping pace with emerging regulation around open data and digital assets.
Jane Martin, managing director of innovation and investment at Scottish Enterprise, said: “FRIL is a shining example of how collaboration between industry, academia and regulators can make a real impact, utilising the development of advanced technologies to create high‑value jobs and attract private investment.”
“This funding underscores our commitment to fintech innovation and our support for innovative businesses, helping them to scale with confidence and build the global competitiveness of Scotland’s financial services sector.”
For FinTech Scotland, the economic potential of the cluster underpins the case for continuing to back the lab.
Chief executive Aleks Tomczyk said: “The opportunity from the current and forecast future growth of fintech is huge. We are proud of FRIL’s impact to date. FRIL’s success evidences the strategic value of innovation to the economy and the strength of our fintech cluster in simultaneously delivering growth and better outcomes for consumers. Scottish Enterprise’s investment will use FinTech Scotland’s proven Innovation Labs model to accelerate innovation in large companies and speed growth in fintechs.”
Challenge partnerships with major financial institutions are presented as a key part of how FRIL turns public investment into commercial outcomes.
Derek Shanks, technology platform lead at Lloyds Banking Group, said: “We’ve supported three FRIL innovation calls as a challenge partner and have seen first-hand the value of this model. It brings together the right mix of expertise, technology and challenge to turn ideas into real solutions. We welcome Scottish Enterprise’s investment and look forward to building on this partnership over the next three years.”
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On the SME side, Edinburgh‑based compliance platform Amiqus is highlighted as one of the companies to have used FRIL as a route to market with larger financial institutions.
Calum Murray, CEO and founder of Amiqus, said: “The potential impact delivered by FRIL over the next three years to the broader Ecosystem is enormous. Thanks to a previous FRIL financial crime innovation call, we were able to build, pilot and take to production new capability to directly support Virgin Money with their new business onboarding journeys.”
“This three-year commitment effectively sets the stage for collaborative and rapid progress across both financial services developing new capabilities with the support of a wide range of fintechs going forward. It’s a win win on all accounts.”
From a growth perspective, the backers of FRIL present the lab as a way to channel Scotland’s public‑investment pound into scalable fintech businesses, using regulatory change as a driver for innovation, high‑value jobs and additional private capital.
