Monitise plc Founder and Chief Executive Alastair Lukies has been appointed as Non-Executive Chairman of Innovate Finance, the new membership-based industry organisation that aims to be the leading voice for the UK financial services technology (fintech) industry both domestically and abroad.

Innovate Finance was launched today by Chancellor George Osborne with 50 founding members including Monitise, IBM, Visa Europe, MasterCard, Santander, RBS, Barclays, Lloyds and Telefónica. Claire Cockerton is CEO. Membership is open to all businesses that have a technology-centric approach to innovation in financial services and a presence in the UK.

Commenting on the appointment, Alastair says: “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. It will result in deeper collaboration across our industry and ultimately a more seamless experience for the consumer.”

“The UK is the perfect place to be launching this kind of initiative which sets the scene for fintech on a global scale. It is home to some of the greatest tech minds on the planet, against a backdrop of balanced financial regulation, meaning that we’re in a strong position to drive cutting-edge innovations which are both stable and scalable.”

Monitise was recognised as a ‘Technology Pioneer’ by the World Economic Forum in 2006. Inside 10 years it has launched services in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Asia and India. Globally, Monitise works with more than 350 banks and financial institutions and 30m consumers benefit from the London-based group’s patented technology to ‘bank anywhere’, ‘pay anyone’ and ‘buy anything’, accounting for over $88 billion of payments, purchases and transfers annually.

Monitise was named one of the top 15 UK’s fastest-growing tech businesses in Deloitte’s 2011, 2012 and 2013 Fast 50 rankings. This year, Alastair was appointed as a Business Ambassador on Financial Services for UK Government and in June he was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)for services to mobile banking and charity. In July 2012 Alastair was named as one of Wired magazine’s ‘most influential figures in Britain’s digital economy and on its list of the UK’s leading digital power-brokers. He was also named ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ at the Growing Business Awards 2011.