Digital Finance Forum rebrands and announces event with Ron Kalifa

The Digital Finance Forum (DFF), the UK’s leading network representing fintech founders, has rebranded and will be known as Fintech Founders as it moves forward.

The DFF was established in 2016 with the aim of creating real conversations and better collaboration amongst entrepreneurs, start-ups, government, and regulators. Over the last four years it has hosted a number of events and brought people closer together but as the DFF’s annual Summer Survey earlier this year made clear, many founders across the Fintech sector feel they and their businesses have been overlooked by Government.

The decision has therefore been made by the organisation’s chair, Christain Faes, and its Steering Group, to take a more assertive approach under the new name of ‘Fintech Founders’. The Group’s first meeting as Fintech Founders will hear from Ron Kalifa who will discuss his current role as chairman of the independent Fintech Strategic Review.

Christian Faes, chair of Fintech Founders and co-founder of LendInvest, commented:  “Now, more than ever, the fintech sector is facing real challenges and the voice of founders needs to be heard loud and clear. We have therefore taken steps to strengthen and refresh ourselves and I am delighted that as Fintech Founders we will continue to pursue my ambition for the voice of founders to be understood by politicians and regulators.

“We are an organisation that will always reflect the concerns and issues of our members. We are also committed to being a direct channel for sharing ideas and solutions, and promote the excellent work that our sector delivers to the wider economy.

“As Fintech Founders, we look forward to continuing our work with the government to address these issues and evolve the competitive landscape for UK Fintech. We have engaged with the Kalifa Review of the UK fintech landscape and will continue to call for the pressing needs of founders to be at the forefront of government thinking. As part of this we will be meeting with Ron Kalifa in the coming days. This will be the first of an exciting and informative programme of events that Fintech Founders will be hosting as we emerge from the pandemic.”

Fintech Founders will represent and champion the interests of its members and bring together founders and key stakeholders across government and industry. Its new name is a signal of wider, scaled-up ambitions to become a network of influence and authority for all Fintech founders. Chaired by Christian Faes, the group will be assisted by a new steering group, which will provide valuable experience and expertise, made up of six leading fintech founders (with a view to additional members joining the steering group imminently):

• Christian Faes, LendInvest (chairman)

• Charlie Delingpole, Comply Advantage

• Paul Taylor, Thought Machine

• David Luck, Capital on Tap

• Freddy Kelly, CreditKudos

• Thomas Olszewski, Koyo