“There’s a much greater willingness for individuals to put forward a good idea, get quick sign-off, build something—and accept that sometimes it will fail.”

That observation, offered by Charlotte Bullock, Head of Product at The Bank of London, captured a recurring tension at the Finance Magnates London Summit 2025: how far banks can push speed and experimentation without undermining the discipline on which financial services is built.

Speaking with Jonathan Fine, Content Strategist at Ultimate Group, Bullock contrasted her experience at SAP—a global software group with more than 100,000 employees—with her current role at one of the UK’s newest principal clearing banks.

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The difference, she said, is not simply scale but mindset. In smaller institutions, leadership is accessible, approval chains are short, and ideas can move quickly from concept to prototype. In large corporates, by contrast, “the signoff hurdles are large,” and by the time projects begin, “the use case or utility isn’t there.”

Scale Shapes Decision-Making

That cultural shift is shaping how The Bank of London approaches innovation. Rather than treating new technologies as isolated experiments, the bank is embedding them directly into its operating model. Bullock pointed to artificial intelligence as an example, noting that the focus has moved from experimentation to application.

“We’re really embedding those use cases into our workflows,” she said, citing a production AI assistant trained on the bank’s own APIs and internal data.

Bank of London is a banking, payments, and clearing partner for businesses, providing secure and technologically advanced financial solutions. According to the bank, it reduces the complexity of traditional banking, offering faster, more flexible ways for clients to hold and move money while supporting business operations.

From AI to Implementation

The assistant, she explained, supports clients during integration by helping generate code and identify the right endpoints—part of what she described as “that willingness to use new technology and tooling,” combined with a tight feedback loop from clients on what they actually need.

Client Feedback Drives Product Choices

Tokenisation is another area where that feedback is shaping priorities. Bullock described growing demand from clients for continuous, round-the-clock access to capital.

“They don’t want to wait for cutoff times,” she said, adding that cross-border clients in particular want to avoid fees that ultimately get passed on to end users. With all client money Client Money Client money refers to the money or margin – which may be any currency in the form of cash, check, draft, or electronic transfer – that a firm receives or holds for a client. Money held by a firm in the form of a stakeholder, which is are not payable on demand or immediately due, also refers to client money. The definition of client money does not apply to money held by businesses that operate in its own name on behalf of a client. Although the client does have to be in agreement before this arr Client money refers to the money or margin – which may be any currency in the form of cash, check, draft, or electronic transfer – that a firm receives or holds for a client. Money held by a firm in the form of a stakeholder, which is are not payable on demand or immediately due, also refers to client money. The definition of client money does not apply to money held by businesses that operate in its own name on behalf of a client. Although the client does have to be in agreement before this arr Read this Term held at the Bank of England, she framed on-chain development as “a very logical place to start” for the bank.

Tokenisation and Capital Access

Not all clients, however, are equally able to move at speed. Bullock said innovation tends to start with “pathfinder” institutions, particularly financial firms serving emerging markets through remittances and cross-border payments. These clients, she noted, are “really driving that change,” because they need to move money quickly and operate across borders.

In our latest Fintech Focus TV episode, Toby sits down with Christopher Horne (CEO) and Tam Holmes (CCO) of @_bankoflondon live from Pay360 at ExCeL London. https://t.co/BVW6v4g8GW#Fintech #DigitalBanking #HarringtonStarr @ThePAssoc pic.twitter.com/7RzLGI8oqz

— Harrington Starr (@HarringtonStarr) May 19, 2025

Uneven Pace Across Markets

Their biggest constraint is often infrastructure rather than ambition. Bullock contrasted the UK’s data-rich environment—where tools like Companies House make it “incredibly simple” to validate ownership structures—with markets where similar information is fragmented or paper-based. “They want that smooth, quick onboarding experience,” she said, but enhanced checks are often unavoidable, creating delays.

Data Limits Speed

Founded as the UK’s sixth principal clearing Clearing Clearing is a general term that simply means many different things depending on the subject and related industry. Most commonly, this refers to the reciprocal exchange between banks of checks and drafts, and the settlement of the differences, or the total of claims settled at a clearinghouse. In finance and banking, the word clearing has different meanings depending on the more specific business model. Moving checks from the bank where they were deposited to the bank on which they were drawn. Th Clearing is a general term that simply means many different things depending on the subject and related industry. Most commonly, this refers to the reciprocal exchange between banks of checks and drafts, and the settlement of the differences, or the total of claims settled at a clearinghouse. In finance and banking, the word clearing has different meanings depending on the more specific business model. Moving checks from the bank where they were deposited to the bank on which they were drawn. Th Read this Term bank, The Bank of London operates with the same licence as established institutions but positions itself as a challenger. Its core offerings—accounts, embedded banking, and payments clearing and settlement—are aimed primarily at regulated financial institutions that lack deposit-taking permissions.

Embedded banking, Bullock said, allows clients to “offer the service to their customers,” while the bank provides the underlying infrastructure.

Challenger Positioning in Banking

Looking ahead, the emphasis is less on spectacle than execution. Bullock pointed to the continued evolution of the bank’s developer studio and APIs, alongside further investment in automation. The aim, she said, is “making that onboarding process as seamless as possible.”

For an industry still balancing innovation with trust, her message was pragmatic. Moving fast, in Bullock’s telling, is not about ignoring risk—but about closing decision loops quickly enough to ensure that ideas still matter by the time they reach the market.