Warwick Business School has launched the Gillmore Centre for Financial Technology, backed by £3 million funding, to spearhead cutting-edge research and innovation for the UK’s financial and technology sectors.

The new Centre will deliver Gillmore GPT, a unique index of FinTech research, a Crypto Index that tracks all crypto prices charted against inflation, mobile and platform based FinTech solutions, immersive technologies for financial literacy, as well as leading research on AI development, machine learning and fraud.

Minister for tech and the digital economy, Paul Scully MP, said: “The UK is the second largest global centre for FinTech, and this new facility will serve as an incubator for a new generation of businesses and a leading hub for the latest academic research and insights.”

The Centre will be led by 25 academics and FinTech business leaders who will drive research and development across its specialisms. The Centre has further plans to hire a number of top research fellows by the end of the year to continue expanding its expertise.

Academics Moris Strub, an expert in financial engineering, and Michael Mortenson, an expert in cloud computing and data analytics, have joined the Centre to add to its expertise.

They will team up with Crypto expert Amit Choudhary, ex-Polygon Labs and Co-Founder of web 3.0 product developer ChainSolid Labs, and former Nationwide financial risk and regulation expert John Curtis, who joined the Gillmore Centre of Financial Technology as research fellows.

The Centre will also act as a platform for industry collaboration projects, virtual and augmented reality teaching, and applications of advanced generative AI in financial services.

The lab area features state-of-the-art computing facilities, advanced wall screens, virtual reality capabilities, as well as access to AI and data analytics software.

Ram Gopal, Director of the Gillmore Centre for Financial Technology, said: “The launch of the Gillmore Centre for Financial Technology is a landmark moment for academia and the financial and technology industries, initiating a huge growth drive for UK R&D. 

We’ve seen over recent months the rapid development of emerging technologies, while the evolving economic situation requires innovative thinking and world-class research pioneers to shape the UK’s growth path, which is what we’re here to provide.”

He added: “The Gillmore Centre for Financial Technology will act as a beacon for industry leading research across fields such as AI, blockchain and machine learning, helping to elevate government policy, inform regulators, and guide businesses through the safe development of these areas.

The UK is primed to become a global hub for financial technology and the Centre closely aligns with the government’s aims of becoming a science and technology superpower.”

The Gillmore Centre for Financial Technology has been set up following a £3 million donation from Clive Gillmore, an alumnus of Warwick University and CEO and Group CIO of Mondrian Investment Partners.