Chris Ellis

Position: Director at Bowsprit International Limited

Chris has worked in the cards and payments industry for over 20 years, and has contributed to the organisations which both introduced the foundations for, and the wider evolution into the 'fintech' industry we see today. 

Subsequent to being involved in exciting periods of significant innovation and growth with Nomad/Metavante/FIS and Yalamanchili, Chris has established Bowsprit seven years ago to provide consultancy to both established players and new entrants to the payments market, including supporting national, regional and global participants supporting, offering and launching a variety of new services and solutions. 

Tell me about Bowsprit International and what is your role? 

I am a Director of Bowsprit International Ltd. Bowsprit is a niche consultancy with a heritage in supporting a variety of different scale organisations within the Fintech and payments industry, including card schemes, regulated issuers, card processors, industry suppliers and new & existing programme managers of varying sizes. The support we provide ranges from strategy, partner selection, project support, product planning, pre-launch preparation, operational refinement and business development.

What do you think is the driving force behind the exponential growth in Fintech?

I consider myself fortunate to have seen the gestation of ‘Fintech’ both pre- and post- the 2008 financial crisis. At that time, we were already witnessing the acceleration of innovation in payment products led by new players in the industry leveraging technology that was enabling the delivery of ground-breaking user-friendly products more quickly than incumbent market players. Fast forward over a decade and the momentum has continued to gather pace supported by the underlying evolution of technology. For me, however, the exponential growth of Fintech is currently being driven by our industry colleagues who are harnessing the technology to put the customer first, whether corporate or consumer, challenging the legacy experiences and broadening the scope of value that their customers seamlessly enjoy.

Is it possible that regulation has fuelled the growth of Fintech?

Trick question! I would hesitate to say that regulation has fuelled the growth of Fintech, however, taking a longer term view I would very much agree that regulation, particularly in the UK, has on balance played a key part in creating an environment which has been conducive to innovation in the Fintech and payments industry. The regulator’s role is challenging at the best of times. Could it have been more supportive of Fintechs? Yes, without a doubt. Measures could have been taken to mitigate some of the challenges that Fintechs have been specifically faced with but, in reality, the regulator faces, and is influenced by, the wider market and that is our primary Fintech challenge. The asymmetric impacts of regulation, that is perhaps designed for the larger industry players, can have a disproportionately negative impact on Fintechs. Critically, PIF maintains a keen focus on what is coming downstream from regulators and assists its members in their digestion of, response to and planning for the impacts of any proposed regulation in order to help reduce possible disruption to Fintech businesses.

Regulation aside, what do you think are the biggest challenges facing Fintechs today?

Knowledge, support and empowerment of new entrants: 

Those who enter the market today face a plethora of choices in achieving their end product. It can be challenging for them to conceptualise the landscape and fully understand all of the options, nuances and implications of the choices they make, the roles they seek to perform and the partners they leverage.

Onboarding and retaining the right people:

This is not unique to our sector but, it remains a truism, particularly today.  Attracting the best people one can, properly ‘engaging’ with them and releasing their full potential is in both the individual’s and the company’s mutual benefit. Not easy at the best of times!

Maintaining their credibility and that of the Fintech sector as a whole in the eyes of regulators, firms, media and customers:

As part of an industry which cherishes and delivers innovation to the market, but which is regulated and highly scrutinised by the media, participants can find themselves somewhat under a lens. Unflattering comment (or worse!) can have a major impact both on individual firms and the perception of the wider industry by regulators, media, consumers (and investors). Bottom line - there is an interdependence in the maintenance of each fintech’s own credibility and our collective industry credibility.

Access to funding:

It’s no secret that we are witnessing a certain tightness in available funds to the sector, with some devaluations and scaling back. This will inevitably mean that such funds will become harder-earned in the first place, at lower levels of investment. Then, when funds are forthcoming, they will need to be put to work more efficiently and effectively.

How is the Payments Innovation Forum helping Fintech organisations face these challenges?

PIF is a not-for-profit trade body. We are run by our members for our members. It is probably unsurprising that we are therefore very focused on current and future industry challenges.

PIF is a trade body that believes in the power and experience of its membership to educate and inform, not only those organisations it interacts with but also its members, particularly new entrants, for the benefit of the industry as a whole. PIF is recognised as bringing genuine value to the table to members and facilitating a level of understanding and awareness untainted by its own commercial agenda.

PIF recognises that people are key to the success of any organisation. We are currently launching an industry jobs board for our members to help attract the best staff for their specific requirement.

We are all aware that trust is hard earned and easily lost. This is true both for individual companies and the industry as a whole. At PIF we are acutely conscious of this reality so we engage the regulator regularly to ensure that our innovative sector is properly understood and, as far as possible, sensitively handled so as not to ‘kill the goose that lays the golden egg’. The same PIF effort goes into managing the media and disarming some of the sensationalist mis-perceptions that can be peddled to consumers about innovative industry products . Underpinning the strength of PIF and its ability to stand tall for our members and their payment products is our Code of Conduct that all members agree to, which, amongst other things, spells out fundamentals in respect of expected thresholds of behaviour, customer support and product user experience.

We all know that access to funding for Fintechs can be challenging. PIF encourages the recognition of a pragmatic assessment of the financial management of a Fintech through its lifecycle. Some of the most interesting and valuable sessions we have presented at PIF events have been non-sugar-coated perspectives from both practitioners and investors that ultimately provide essential pearls of wisdom for digestion by and to the benefit of Fintechs.   

How should the Fintech sector respond to the cost-of-living crisis?

The Fintech sector is uniquely positioned and has a fantastic track record of delivering innovative solutions during challenging times. The cost-of-living, as well as climate change and energy shortages, offers fertile ground for nimble Fintechs to differentiate their offerings from those of incumbents and to present creative propositions which assist customers in their quest for sustainability, in whichever context. The nature of Fintechs and the underlying flexibility they have at their disposal is significant. 

I strongly believe that Fintechs should harness the courage of their convictions and their entrepreneurial spirit to deliver the solutions they have themselves identified from their unique perspective, as meeting current needs of the population. PIF members have been and will continue to be at the forefront of bringing beneficial payment innovations to society in difficult times.

If you were prime minister for a day, what would you pledge in support of the industry?

• Recognition that Fintech presents a genuine opportunity for the economy
• A reduction in the barriers to entry
• A strategy that ameliorates the asymmetric challenges that a broad-brush approach to regulation can have on Fintechs (inadvertently or otherwise!)
• Creation of a UK Fintech event to rival Money 2020
• Negotiation of a ‘passporting’ arrangement with the EU
• To cover PIF membership fees for all Fintechs!