CFIT
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Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology

CFIT Challenges

CFIT is leading the drive to enhance the UK's position as a global leader in financial innovation. We bring together the best minds from government, regulators, technology hubs and financial institutions to identify the key challenges facing industry — and to co-design solutions that benefit individuals, businesses and the wider economy.

Each challenge below is run through a CFIT coalition: a time-bound, purpose-driven collaboration that moves from discovery to delivery, with proofs of concept and published recommendations at the end. Applications are open to firms across the UK fintech and financial services ecosystem.

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Programme timeline

Open and upcoming challenges

Three challenges are currently in the programme. Review the detail, then apply to take part.

Challenge 01Smart Data for Home Buying

Open
Smart Data & Open Property

How can Smart Data principles shorten a home purchase that today takes an average of 22 weeks, and cut the 30% of transactions that fall through?

14 September 2026
6 of 15 places filled
Applications close 24 August 2026

Highlights

  • Reduce time-to-completion through upfront, verified property data
  • Cut fall-through rates with earlier certainty on affordability and title
  • Establish consent and interoperability patterns reusable beyond property
  • Demonstrate measurable consumer benefit for the DBT Smart Data programme

Challenge 02Fighting Economic Crime Through Enhanced Verification

Open
Financial Crime & Verification

How can enhanced business and individual verification disrupt economic crime without adding friction for legitimate customers?

22 October 2026
3 of 12 places filled
Applications close 1 October 2026

Highlights

  • Improve detection of mule networks and layered corporate structures
  • Reduce false positives and investigator effort in screening
  • Build explainable, auditable decisioning suitable for regulatory review
  • Define reusable verification standards for cross-institution sharing
  • Keep onboarding friction low for legitimate businesses and consumers

Challenge 03Supported Payments & Financial Inclusion

Coming soon
Inclusion & Payments

How can payments be designed so that carers, people with fluctuating capacity and the digitally excluded can transact safely and independently?

3 December 2026
0 of 12 places filled
Applications open 5 October 2026

Highlights

  • Enable safe delegated spending without sharing credentials
  • Support customers with fluctuating mental capacity over time
  • Reduce financial abuse risk through transparent oversight
  • Widen access for customers without conventional digital identity