Beyond The Capital from SuperTech

Beyond The Capital is the podcast series from SuperTech that explores the professional services tech scene outside of London. We’re also on the AdviserTech Show podcast feed.

This is a special four-part mini-series in partnership with the Women in Finance Collective, a new network to promote and support women who work in finance and fintech in the Midlands.

In this episode, we spotlight the next generation of women shaping the future of financial services and fintech. Host Hilary Smyth-Allen is joined by Florence Govier, Product Manager at Moneyinfo, and Naya Hemans-Westerway, Business Consultant at Jigsawtree.

They share frank reflections on entering the industry, navigating male-dominated spaces, and why fintech continues to attract ambitious young professionals.

They discuss:

• The career journeys that led Florence and Naya into fintech
• Why financial services remains a stable but evolving career path
• Experiences of being the “only woman in the room” and how confidence, preparation and community help
• The reality of ageism and gender bias, and how younger women are pushing for change
• Setting boundaries, finding role models, and using networks like the Women in Finance Collective

Links:

To find out more about SuperTech WM click here.

To find out more about Moneyinfo click here.

To find out more about Jigsaw Tree click here.

To find out more about the Women In Finance Collective click here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Beyond The Capital is the podcast series from SuperTech that explores the professional services tech scene outside of London. We’re also on the AdviserTech Show podcast feed.

This is a special four-part mini-series in partnership with the Women in Finance Collective, a new network to promote and support women who work in finance and fintech in the Midlands.

In this episode, host Hilary Smyth-Allen speaks to Amira Norris, Co-Founder of The Mentor Standard, and Julie Goddard, Business Psychologist and Founder of The Success Architect. They explore the role of behavioural psychology in leadership and decision-making, and how high-stakes environments, such as finance, shape it.

They discuss:

• Why clarity matters more than confidence when making decisions
• The impact of constant pressure and uncertainty post-Covid
• How trust underpins effective leadership and team performance
• Avoiding the 'false sense of urgency' in tech-driven change
• Rethinking 'imposter syndrome' and why self-doubt can be healthy

Links:

To find out more about SuperTech WM click here.

To find out more about Moneyinfo click here.

To find out more about Jigsaw Tree click here.

To find out more about the Women In Finance Collective click here.

To find out more about The Mentor Standard click here.

To find out more about The Success Architect click here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Beyond the Capital, part of our Women in Finance Collective mini-series, host Hilary Smith-Allen is joined by Kim Jenkins, Chief Operating Officer of fintech firm Afternoon, and Liz Basten, founder of Kiss My Brand, a marketing agency.

Together, they share their reflections on decades of working in fintech and financial services, tackling barriers and exploring how women can thrive at every stage of their careers. From building a personal brand to navigating career plateaus, from embracing AI to re-setting career purpose, this is a conversation packed with insight, honesty, and practical advice.

They discuss:

• The barriers women still face in fintech and financial services, from male-dominated cultures to hidden biases
• Why visibility is crucial for career progression and how to build it without feeling like you’re “showing off”
• Practical ways to create a personal brand that feels authentic and builds credibility
• The role of mentorship, both official and unofficial, in overcoming isolation and accelerating growth
• Rethinking career trajectories: pivoting, resetting purpose, and tackling mid-career “stuck” moments
• How AI is reshaping roles in finance and why it could create new opportunities for women
• The importance of community, like the Women in Finance Collective, in building confidence and support networks

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Women in Finance

02:27 Barriers in the Workplace

06:31 Building a Personal Brand

09:17 The Importance of Mentorship

12:40 Navigating Career Progression

15:47 The Impact of AI on Careers

19:09 Finding Purpose and Skills for the Future

Resources:

To find out more about SuperTech click here.

To find out more about the Women in Finance Collective click here.

To find out more about Afternoon click here.

To find out more about Kiss My Brand click here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Beyond The Capital is the podcast series from SuperTech that explores the professional services tech scene outside of London. We’re also on the AdviserTech Show podcast feed.

This is a special four-part mini-series in partnership with the Women in Finance Collective, a new network to promote and support women who work in finance and fintech in the Midlands.

For this first episode of the series, host Hilary Smyth-Allen is joined by Tessa Lee, Managing Director of Moneyinfo, and Gemma Lowndes, Director of Operations for Jigsaw Tree. Moneyinfo and Jigsaw Tree are the founding companies of the Women In Finance Collective. 

They discuss:

• Why the Collective was needed in the Midlands
• The importance of local support and how local networks provide more relevant support than national groups
• How women still face challenges in leadership roles within financial services
• How community and connections are vital for women in finance.
• Sharing success stories can inspire and motivate others
• Why education about finance careers should start in schools
• How AI can enhance roles in finance rather than replace them

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to the Women in Finance Collective

02:43 The Need for Local Support in Finance

05:41 Challenges Faced by Women in Finance

08:36 The Role of Technology in Finance

10:52 Building a Supportive Community

12:12 Inspiring Future Generations

13:02 Getting Involved with the Collective

More information:

To find out more about SuperTech WM click here.

To find out more about Moneyinfo click here.

To find out more about Jigsaw Tree click here.

To find out more about the Women In Finance Collective click here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the final episode of a four-part mini-series of Beyond the Capital from SuperTech WM, in partnership with the TiPS Accelerator, a programme helping regional law and accountancy firms adopt new technology.

This episode explores how accountancy and audit firm Armstrong Watson navigated the cultural, technical, and client-related challenges of adopting new audit technology through the TiPS accelerator programme.

Host Hilary Smith-Allen is joined by Steve Preston and Lucy Hughes, who share their experience of implementing data analytics tools across Armstrong Watson’s offices, managing team engagement and collaborating with both clients and suppliers.

They discuss how a mindset shift, at both board level and across teams, was essential to success, how change management workshops helped guide the process, and why rolling out the pilot at scale made all the difference.

They discuss:

• The importance of planning as success starts before implementation
• How mindset matters at every level of the organisation
• How to bring your team with you 
• Choosing the right supplier  
• Client collaboration can be a key differentiator

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction to the TIPS programme

01:18 – About Armstrong Watson

02:18 – Mindset challenges and cultural shifts

03:45 – Why data analytics?

05:14 – How external support accelerated change

06:37 – Running pilots and rolling out across offices

08:23 – Defining success: audit quality, efficiency, and client service

10:15 – Adapting plans and improving feedback loops

13:08 – Involving clients in the pilot process

15:22 – Supplier relationships and off-the-shelf vs bespoke tech

18:43 – Measuring impact and looking ahead

21:18 – Team buy-in and long-term cultural change

22:45 – Final takeaways for firms on the tech journey

Find out more about TiPS here and SuperTech here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the third episode of a four-part mini-series of Beyond the Capital from SuperTech WM, in partnership with the TiPS Accelerator, a programme helping regional law and accountancy firms adopt new technology.

This episode features leaders from Thorntons, a full-service Scottish law firm, who speak to host Hilary Smyth-Allen about their journey on the TiPS Accelerator. 

Sarah Blair, Jane McCance, and Lewis Quinn unpack how the firm used service design thinking to drive digital transformation, foster AI literacy, and unveil the real human challenges behind legal tech adoption.

From co-creating solutions with colleagues to embracing “messy” innovation, they share their people-first approach to change - and how that’s shaping the firm's internal transformation programme.

They discuss:

• Why adoption is a human, not just technical, problem
• How service design and the Double Diamond framework guided discovery
• Building AI literacy and safe experimentation across the firm
• Creating a firm-wide cultural shift, one post-it at a time
• How the TiPS project laid the groundwork for a firm-wide change programme

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction to TiPS and Thorntons

01:45 – Thorntons’ structure, services, and innovation roles

04:20 – The trap of tech-first thinking and why adoption lags

06:30 – Identifying human problems before implementing solutions

08:00 – Shifting project scope: literacy, service design and the “AI Sandbox”

10:14 – Building transformation roles from scratch

12:00 – Starting with discovery and asking the right questions

15:00 – What the project uncovered (and what it changed)

17:17 – What is the Double Diamond? A primer on service design

19:15 – From AI requests to deeper diagnostics and real solutions

22:00 – Aligning innovation with strategic priorities

24:25 – Wellbeing, time-saving, and what “impact” really means

27:00 – Culture change and playful innovation techniques

29:00 – AI roadshows, Jedi groups, and safe experimentation

31:15 – Upskilling junior colleagues and early-career catalysts

33:42 – Final takeaways: messiness, experimentation, and mindset

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the second episode of a four-part mini-series of Beyond the Capital from SuperTech WM, in partnership with the TiPS Accelerator—a programme helping regional law and accountancy firms adopt new technology.

In this episode, host Hilary Smyth-Allen speaks to Dr Catriona Wolfenden, Director of Product and Innovation at Weightmans, a top-40 UK law firm. She shares insights from Weightmans’ participation in the TiPS accelerator programme, focusing on how trust plays a pivotal role in the successful adoption of legal technology, especially emerging tools like generative AI.

The conversation explores how the legal innovation team at Weightmans balances enthusiasm for technology with risk awareness, pilot fatigue, and stakeholder engagement. Listeners will hear how trust varies across teams, projects, and client relationships. Plus, thinking critically before launching a pilot is more important than ever.

They discuss:

• How to think long-term: today’s pilot affects tomorrow’s culture
• The importance of transparent communication
• Why trust isn’t binary—it varies by project, person, and context
• Starting with the problem, not the technology

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction to TiPS and Weightmans

01:20 – Role of the innovation team and post-COVID tech shift

03:26 – The GenAI explosion and the risks of hype

05:46 – Trust as the cornerstone of successful pilots

07:03 – Legal responsibility and the “black box” problem

10:36 – The academic and cross-sector value of TiPS

12:11 – Mapping stakeholder trust and pilot impact

14:31 – Avoiding the “snake oil” trap

15:49 – Is GenAI hype, or here to stay?

17:35 – ROI challenges and market saturation

19:32 – Innovation lessons for smaller firms

21:36 – Managing disruption and unintended consequences

23:11 – One key takeaway: plan more than you think you need to

Links:

Find out more about the TiPS accelerator here

Find out more about SuperTech WM here

Find out more about Weightmans here

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Beyond the Capital from SuperTech WM, we find out about the TiPS Accelerator—a programme helping regional law and accountancy firms adopt new technology.

Host Hilary Smith-Allen is joined by the research team at Oxford Brookes Business School—Professor Tim Vorley, Dr. Francisco Trincado Munoz, and Dr. Hannah Tornow—to explore how the accelerator helped firms navigate the challenges of digital transformation. 

From AI readiness to rethinking business models, this project focused on people as much as it did on technology.

They discuss:

• Why tech adoption isn’t just about the tech
• What holds mid-sized proftech firms back—and how to move forward
• The power of collaboration between academia and industry
• How building trust, accountability, and peer learning drives change
• Lessons learned and what’s next for the TiPS accelerator team

Find out more about the TiPS accelerator here.

Find out more about SuperTech WM here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Beyond The Capital from SuperTech. 

This is a four-part mini-series about the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab. SuperTech has partnered with Fintech Scotland for the Lab, which is an industry-led collaborative research and innovation programme, helping to shape future financial regulation in the UK. 

The programme - and this mini-series - focuses on how new technologies can deliver better outcomes for customers following the introduction of Consumer Duty regulation.

In this episode, host Hilary Smyth-Allen speaks to Rachel McGowan, Chief Technology Officer of Moneyline, about the impact of Consumer Duty on Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs). 

They discuss:

• The role of CDFIs, such as Moneyline, in providing financial services to low-income households
• Understanding different customer personas including the ‘forgotten customer’
• The role of the Innovation Lab in developing solutions for helping address the needs of financially excluded customers 

To find out more about the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab click here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Beyond The Capital from SuperTech. 

This is a four-part mini-series about the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab. SuperTech has partnered with Fintech Scotland for the Lab, which is an industry-led collaborative research and innovation programme, helping to shape future financial regulation in the UK. 

The programme - and this mini-series - focuses on how new technologies can deliver better outcomes for customers following the introduction of Consumer Duty regulation.

This episode delves into the impact of Consumer Duty on financial advice. The regulation was introduced to improve customers’ experience of financial products and advice, but how is it impacting the advice gap?  

To find out, Hilary Smyth-Allen speaks to Ben Hampton, CEO of Wealth Wizards, and Professor John Finch of Glasgow University. John is the Principal Investigator in the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab project.

They discuss:

• How Gen Z's engagement with financial advice is different to older generations 
• How regulatory changes, such as Consumer Duty, can stimulate innovation in the industry
• The role technology can play in helping bridge the advice gap.
• AI's role in financial services and how it’s evolving

To find out more about the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab click here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.