Financial Innovation Today: Towards Economic Resilience

A new report into the UK’s burgeoning alternative finance industry is calling on the Government to underwrite consumers’ investments in the sector in a bid to encourage wider participation. The UK is the home of Europe’s rapidly-growing “AltFin” movement – encompassing peer-to-peer lending, community share schemes and crowdfunding. Fast becoming a major player in the financial sector, it was valued at £3.2 billion in 2015 – almost five times the 2013 figure. In what is the first independent qualitative evaluation of the sector, Dr Mark Davis from the University of Leeds interviewed companies at the vanguard of the movement to understand their motivations. This report, Financial Innovation Today: Towards Economic Resilience, examines the sector’s role in democratising finance and building economic resilience.