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By Dan Saada
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What the FCA's Scale-Up Unit Actually Does. Jessica Rusu, the FCA's chief data information and innovation officer, has been clear about why…
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Lessons from the Early and High Growth Oversight Pilot. Between July 2025 and March 2026, the FCA ran an Early and High Growth Oversight pilot with 15…
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What Comes Next for the Cohort. The FCA's next move is opening applications for the following Scale-Up Unit cohort.
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Five fast-growing UK fintech firms just got a direct line to the regulator. ClearScore, Modulr, Teya, Urban Jungle, and Zilch have all joined the Financial Conduct Authority's…
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It's not a rubber stamp. The Scale-Up Unit gives firms hands-on access to FCA staff who can help them work through governance questions, respond to policy shifts, and manage the…
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The unit doesn't operate in isolation. It sits alongside a broader set of FCA programs — Innovation Pathways, the Pre-Application Support Service (PASS), and the Early and High…
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Applications for the Scale-Up Unit pilot opened in May and closed June 22, 2026. The next cohort's application window will open soon, though no specific date has been set yet.
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Since the FCA launched its innovation services, it has worked with more than 1,000 innovative and growing firms.
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Between July 2025 and March 2026, the FCA ran an Early and High Growth Oversight pilot with 15 firms across asset management, wealth management, and payments.
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Read also: FCA Upholds Ban on Pension Advisors Over £126 Million Transfer Scandal
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The insights from that pilot have been published. One clear takeaway: early investment in governance and risk management matters enormously.
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That's not a new idea, but it's one the FCA seems intent on pushing more forcefully now.
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Three of the five newly admitted firms — ClearScore, Modulr, and Zilch — are also part of the Unicorn Council for UK FinTech, a coalition set up by Innovate Finance that brings…
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Teya and Urban Jungle round out the new cohort. No details in the announcement about their specific regulatory questions or growth challenges — that's not really how the FCA…
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Related: Bybit AI Launches Virtual Assistant to Simplify Trading and Account Management
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