Levelling-Up Bill Amendments: Robot Taskforce

Latest robot density figures show UK lagging far behind global competitors. We must act urgently to invest in automation technology and reverse this decline which is why I tabled an amendment to the Levelling Up Bill calling on the Government to consider a taskforce “to increase effective use of robotics and automation, and reduce disparities …

Financial Services and Markets Bill Amendments: Financial Inclusion

Currently the Financial Services and Markets Bill is progressing through Committee Stage in the House of Lords. I am putting forward several amendments to the Bill and this week introduced a proposal that I hope would ensure more is done to improve financial inclusion. I have long argued that the Government must do more to …

Committee Stage of the Electronic Trade Documents Bill nears completion

I am currently sitting as a member of the Special Public Bill Committee tasked with the job of considering the Electronic Trade Documents Bill. We have just concluded three weeks of evidence sessions, hearing from expert witnesses from the legal, trade and technology sectors. We will now be deliberating over that evidence and awaiting confirmation …

Financial Services and Markets Bill Amendments: Regulation and Regulators

We are currently going through the Financial Services and Markets Bill clause by clause, line by line, debating the principles, highlighting the concerns and suggesting changes. On the third day of Committee Stage (1st February 2023) I introduced four amendments, all with the intention of improving transparency, accountability, efficiency and proportionality for the regulators. Amendment …

Financial Services and Markets Bill Amendments: SME rights and Regional Mutual Banks

Empowering Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME)  by permitting rights of action for breaches of Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) handbook and improving SME access to funding by promoting regional mutual banks (arguing for the Bank of Dave) Yesterday (30 January 2023) was the second day of Committee Stage for the Financial Services and Markets Bill in …

Fintech regulation: a look back at 2022 and a look ahead to 2023

Back in February, I wrote a piece for Finextra titled, ‘For financial services, 2022 is a year of real regulatory possibilities. Through a series of events – impossible to have imagined at the time – Rishi Sunak, the then Chancellor is now the Prime Minister and the progress on fintech regulation I had hoped for …

All-Party-Parliamentary-Group on AI

End of Year Round-Up 2022 has been a busy year for the APPG AI – as the buzz around the new Chatbot ChatGPT – has demonstrated, this technology is developing at pace and the use cases are increasingly visible and impressive. As all the speakers at an event in Parliament this week (6th December 2022) stressed – …

ESG: existential, seismic and global

I wrote last year about why it’s time to think of ESG, not as environmental, social and governance but as existential, seismic and global. Yesterday (29th November 2022) I spoke at a conference – Sustainable Finance Live – and again called on people to think of ESG as existential, seismic and global. Not only is the …

Electronic Trade Documents Bill

One of the most important bills you’ve never heard of Today (12th October 2022), in the House of Lords, the Government introduced an incredibly important piece of legislation. The Electronic Trade Documents Bill will allow the digitization of trade documents. A small sounding Bill, it is nonetheless one that will have a colossal impact. This …