PrinSIX participates in the FCA and City of London Corporation’s first Digital Sandbox

Leeds-UK, 24 November 2020—PrinSIX announces its selection to participate in the FCA and City of London Corporation’s first Digital Sandbox

The Digital Sandbox was announced by the FCA’s Interim Chief Executive Christopher Woolard in July, when applications were invited for innovation in SME lending, fraud prevention, and supporting vulnerable customers.

The regulator has a history offering support to innovators through their Regulatory Sandbox.  The Digital Sandbox focuses on technical and analytical innovators and aligns to the FCA’s digital priorities outlined in their 20/21 Business Plan.  The sandbox provides valuable support to innovators, including large datasets and regulatory support to test and refine innovative digital solutions, a marketplace for digital service providers to collaborate and an ecosystem for organisations both within and outside FS to provide support and input. 

Julian Graham-Rack, PrinSIX Technologies CEO, says, “The Digital Sandbox is an excellent initiative by the regulator, and PrinSIX values the opportunity to be part of it.  Digitisation is a long-standing trend within FS, driven by customers’ demand for convenient service and firms’ demand for efficiency.  That trend has accelerated this year due to COVID-19.  With new technologies like Open Banking making customer journeys increasingly complex, there’s never been a more important time for lenders to achieve optimal onboarding.”

Gaham-Rack adds, “With digitisation comes new risks.  Customers have extremely varied personal circumstances.  As human interactions reduce, firms lose important connections with their customers, and this diversity gets lost in standardised and automated digital journeys.  It is clear from the FCA’s current consultation on fair treatment of vulnerable customers that this is a concern, and rightly so.”

Read about the lessons we learned in the FCA Digital Sandbox project