Startup-Manifesto

STARTUP MANIFESTO
Consumers and citizens should have confidence that their data will
not be abused. Similarly the rules must be clear and not impose
too great a burden on small companies. Digital startups, who often
handle significants amount of data, yet lack the resources of larger
companies, can be particularly affected by well-meaning provisions.
As it currently stands, the General Data Protection Regulation
(GDPR), proposed by the European Commission includes far reaching
new regulations that could impose significant burdens on digital
startups. While there are proposed exemptions for small companies,
these may not apply to data heavy companies (those processing data
on more than 5000 subjects), a category in which many startups
would fall, despite their size.
While it is welcome that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has raised its
concerns about the Regulation, including raising concerns about the
cost to businesses, including SMEs – arguing that it could have a net
cost to the UK of £100–360 million, 73 it should go much further in
making the positive case in Brussels for reforms that would work for
consumers and business.
The next government should seek clarity on the impact of the GDPR
on digital startups and make the positive case for a framework that
encourages innovation.
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CONTINUE TO SUPPORT FINTECH INNOVATION
The UK leads the world on fintech, with London’s fintech sector
larger than either New York’s or San Francisco’s, and London’s
overall digital sector growing faster than San Francisco’s. 74 Whether
it is money transfer (eg TransferWise), investing (eg Nutmeg), P2P
lending (eg Zopa), or equity crowdfunding (eg Seedrs), there are UK
based fintech startups coming up with innovative services.
The Treasury and Financial Conduct Authority are both making
efforts to encourage this fintech innovation, with the Chancellor
recently launching Innovate Finance, a trade body for fintech.
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