Conservative Party speaks to FinanceFeeds on post-Brexit FinTech; lauds removal of EU’s ‘stifling approach to digital market’

Over a week has passed since the British electorate cast their votes as to whether the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union or go it alone as an independent sovereign nation, and the ever-changing political landscape in the country which is currently undergoing its largest administrative reorganization since 1973 when it joined the European Economic Area.

Whilst many analysts have taken a close look at what will happen within the financial markets over the coming weeks, FinanceFeeds pre-referendum prediction has thus far been correct in that the UK would elect to leave the European Union, there would be a downturn in the value of the pound, a brief lowering in value of UK stock, and then a massive rebound of all markets as the UK surges forward as a beacon of business acumen and leadership in financial technology as well as electronic trading.

In order to take a look at what is to come and how the government is looking toward ensuring the exponential growth of Britain’s vast financial technology sector, FinanceFeeds spoke directly to the Conservative Party, which is currently in government in the United Kingdom.

Today, Adam Afriyie, Conservative MP for Windsor spoke to FinanceFeeds CEO Andrew Saks-McLeod about how the government will stimulate growth in FinTech post Brexit.

Mr. Afriyie is indeed a politician who understands the technological industry in Britain. He is chairman of Connect Support Services, an IT support company he set up in 1993. He once owned two-thirds of DeHavilland, a political monitoring company, which was sold to British publishing giant EMAP Publications in 2005 for £18 million.

Mr. Afriyie is a stakeholder of Axonn Media, a content marketing business which produces content for clients. The company incorporates brands such as Content Plus, NewsReach, DirectNews and ReelContent. Axonn turned over £9.4m in 2011 and made a pre-tax profit of £1.3m. Afriyie is the largest shareholder of the firm and he and his fellow directors split dividends of £2.2m in 2010 and 2011 and shared directors’ pay of £3.6m over the last five years.

Mr. Afriyie was selected as parliamentary candidate for the constituency of Windsor in October 2003. He was first elected at the 2005 general election with an increased share of the vote (49.5%) and a swing to the Conservatives of 1.2%

In Parliament, he was a member of the Science and Technology select committee from 2005 until its abolition in July 2007, and has since been a member of the Children, Schools and Families select committee. Since 2010 he has been the President of the Conservative Technology Forum. He has been the chair of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology since 2010.

Mr. Afriyie told FinanceFeeds today “One of this Conservative Government’s priorities has been to foster the growth of the financial technology sector within London’s unique financial ecosystem.

 “Our regulators have been quick to adapt with programmes such as the Government Office for Science’s review into distributed ledgers, the creation of the Payment Systems Regulator to review Britain’s payments infrastructure, and the Financial Conduct Authority’s creation of the ‘Regulatory sandbox’ to create a safe space to pro-actively test innovative products” – Adam Afriyie, Conservative MP 

 “The EU’s stifling approach to the digital market often means that legislation is out of date before it is agreed by the 28 member states, let alone enacted. The fact that the UK is quick to adapt and cautious of over regulation will ensure that FinTech will flourish in post-Brexit Britain and it could well be the case that the EU follows our approach in future”.