Lords Financial Services Regulation Committee: Do regulatory sandboxes help scaleup firms to address barriers to growth?

On Wednesday 4 November the House of Lords Financial Services Regulation Committee will hear evidence from two panels of witnesses.

At 10:00am, the committee will hear evidence from:

• Sebastian McDermott, Co-chair at Fintech Founders
• Chris Bosworth, Founder at Finclusion
• Will Mason, Founder and CEO at Infact
• Oliver Quie, Co-Founder and CEO at Innerworks.

At 11:00am, the committee will hear evidence from:

• Irene Graham, CEO at ScaleUp Institute.

Both panels will give evidence to the committee's inquiry on how regulators and firms use regulatory sandboxes, and whether they drive innovation in the industry.

The meeting will be held in Committee Room 4 of the House of Lords and streamed live and on demand on Parliament TV.

Topics the committee is likely to cover in this session include:

• How regulatory sandboxes are perceived and experienced by participating and non-participating fintech firms.
• Whether and how regulatory sandboxes support innovation by fintech firms.
• How regulatory sandboxes could be improved from the perspective of fintech firms.
• What regulatory barriers scaleup firms face and whether regulatory sandboxes address these.
• How effective regulatory sandboxes are in supporting firms to scale, and how they could be improved.

• Where regulatory sandboxes fit alongside other forms of regulatory engagement and support for scaleup firms.

More about the regulatory sandboxes

A regulatory sandbox is a controlled testing environment in which firms can test innovative products, services or business models under regulatory oversight, without immediately being subject to the full range of regulatory requirements that would normally apply.

Increasingly, sandboxes are also framed as controlled testing environments where regulators can learn about new technologies and generate insights that help to inform future regulatory frameworks.

The FCA launched the first sandbox in 2016 as part of Project Innovate, a scheme aimed at promoting competition and growth in UK financial services. It has since launched four additional sandboxes, including the Digital Securities Sandbox in partnership with the Bank of England. The sandbox model has also been replicated in more than 50 global markets.