Monitise’s Alastair Lukies CBE appointed non-executive chairman of Innovate Finance

Monitise founder and CEO Alastair Lukies CBE, awarded Growing Business Young Gun in 2007, has today been appointed as non-executive chairman of Innovate Finance; a new industry body which will look to present Britain as a global leader in financial technology (FinTech).

Unveiled at the official launch party at Canary Wharf’s Level 39 today, Innovate Finance is backed by £600,000 funding from the City of London and Canary Wharf Group and will launch with 50 member companies who will be based out of Canary Wharf’s One Canada Square.

Having established mobile banking firm Monitise in 2003, Lukies has grown the London-based AIM-listed business on a global scale and it now works with over 350 banks and financial institutions across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Asia,

It boasts multi-million pound revenues and has over 30 million consumers who benefit from its patented technology which allows users to ‘bank anywhere’, ‘pay anyone’, and ‘buy anything’.

The news builds on Lukies’ recent achievements having been appointed by the government as business ambassador on financial services, and awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to mobile banking and charity in June this year.

Discussing his appointment to the Innovate Finance Board, Lukies said: “Technology is revolutionising our financial services industry at lightning speed, transforming the way we interact with something that matters to everyone: their money.

“That’s why Innovate Finance is such an important movement. It’s the coming together of the UK’s biggest and most successful FinTech corporations with some of our most promising entrepreneurs to address the opportunities and challenges for our sector.

“The UK is the perfect place to be launching this kind of initiative which sets the scene for FinTech on a global scale.”