Fintech as a Force Good 2026

Our CEO, Louise Brett, spoke at the 6th edition of Innovate Finance’s FinTech as a Force for Good Forum on October 8th at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. The event explored how FinTech serves as a cornerstone of the UK’s financial infrastructure, driving economic growth while enhancing strategic and social resilience.

Louise joined the closing panel, “The Race Against The Machine”, alongside speakers from ComplyAdvantage, LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Kyndryl, chaired by Rajesh Agrawal of Fair Growth Group. The panel looked at how AI is changing financial crime and at post-quantum and cyber resilience. It reframed the title as a race with the machine, as the same capability that creates the threat is also the main defence.

Louise’s main concern was the erosion of capability. Accountability at board and executive level has never been stronger, but it is the least understood, and deploying AI at scale removes the routes through which people build judgement. She argued that governance must be designed into AI from the outset, and highlighted Plenitude’s participation in the FCA synthetic data sprint with Napier AI and the Alan Turing Institute, which looks at changing typologies without putting customer data at risk.

The panel’s conclusion was clear: AI can strengthen financial crime defences, but only where firms keep the people, judgement and governance to use it well. Thank you to Innovate Finance for hosting such a timely discussion.