Establishing the Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence (GOFCoE) in Central Scotland to safely unlock the potential of customer data as a force to improve lives

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Central Scotland, stretching between Edinburgh (Banking/Fund Management), Fife (Payments), Stirling (Insurance) and Glasgow (Banking/Insurance), has the UK's largest Financial Services concentration outside London employing 126,000 people (4.7% of all Scottish jobs). Financial Services are complemented by significant strengths in data science and Fintech, outstanding research talent across six universities and much of the UK's data-intensive computing facilities, including £550m investment in 'Data-Driven Innovation' via a City Region Deal.Open Banking, launched in the UK in 2018, is a pioneering initiative to rebalance markets in favour of consumers by using shared financial data through secure open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to increase competition and innovation, leading to better products and services. Open Banking is driving opportunities for collaboration between Fintechs, banks and universities to create innovative new data-driven services. The UK is a global leader with first mover advantage in Open Banking which has potential to become a cornerstone of Scotland's (and the UK's) digital economy. Open Banking will rapidly evolve into Open Finance, taking in products such as pensions, investments and insurance, another Central Scotland strength. Many countries are following our lead which creates global opportunities for both exports and inward investments.In recognition of these local strengths and this global movement, a Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence (GOFCoE) will be established with a mission to safely unlock the potential of customer data as a force to improve innovation, productivity and people's lives, addressing challenges such as fair access to credit, property ownership and saving for long life.The project, led by the University of Edinburgh, will focus on establishing GOFCoE, working in partnership with Fintech Scotland, the Financial Data and Technology Association, Scottish Enterprise and a consortium comprising financial services, Fintechs, professional services, public and third sector organisations. The project will deliver six key objectives:Catalyse financial data collaboration in a trusted environment to enable research and innovation, thus accelerating industry adoption of Open Finance at scale in Central ScotlandDecrease time-to-market and development costs, thereby improving start-up survival, attracting inward investment, securing jobs and creating export opportunitiesTrain new talent to enable regional sectoral expansionUndertake data-driven research to create knowledge of financial behaviours and deliver wider social and economic benefits locally and nationallyWork with regulators to establish ethical standards and best practice to ensure public trustBuild local, national and international partnerships to achieve financial sustainability.