Collab/Collide Summit's UK invasion

The United Kingdom is broadly regarded as having the most advanced fintech industry in the world.As a result, it's hardly surprising that our Collab/Collide Summit has an amazing line-up of UK speakers keen to give their insights about all things fintech.For instance,world challenger bank authority Anthony Thomson will be speaking at the summit on the afternoon of Friday, 3 November. Mr Thomson is the founder of the UKs Metro and Atom Banks and is current chairman of Atom Bank.To give you a sense of Atom Bank's rapid market penetration, in its first full year of operation, the bank has increased customer lending from 99 million pounds to 700 million pounds, while nearly 18,000 customers opened savings accounts.What's more, Mr Thomson is a keen observer of the Australian fintech scene and will be able to easily compare and contrast the UK and Australian fintech industries, particularly in regard to progress on fintech innovation and digital banking. Mr Thomson has also invested in Melbourne-based peer-to-peer invoice financing company Timelio.

Anthony Thomson

On the morning of 2 November, we've got UK-based digital identity expert David Birch.With the move towards an open banking framework, where customers can easily shift their data to different financial service providers, there is an urgent need to develop a flexible yet robust digital identity solution. In short, the old system of having multiple and individual banking passcodes is simply not going to cut it in this brave new world.The Australian Government has indicated it is developing a digital identity framework, alongside a move to create a biometric centralised image database to fight terrorism. To put it mildly, there is very heated discussion about the merits of this approach.Let's hope that David can show us the way here.

David Birch

Also on Thursday, 2 November, we have Megan Caywood, Chief Platform Officer of the Starling Bank. Megan will be able to update the summit on her company's innovative new marketplace product, which was only launched in September.The Starling Marketplace puts products from other fintech providers within an easily browsed ecosystem accessible within the Starling app. It is an interesting and collaborative model and one that we're keen to hear more about.

Megan Caywood

Clara Durodie from the London-based Cognitive Finance Group will be speaking at our Women in FinTech Panel on 2 November.To set the scene, we've published an interview with Clara on what she thinks it is like to be a female leader in the sometimes pretty blokey world of financial services and fintech.Clara will also be speaking on other panels about artificial intelligence and venture capital.

Clara Durodie

To top it off, the UK Department for International Trade is a strategic partner for the Intersekt festival.Make sure you grab your place at the summit by registering here.Alternatively, if you are a journalist and would like to attend, please email myself at mark@fintechaustralia.org.au