The Edinburgh Centre for Financial Innovations (ECFI) collaborates with NatWest Group to co‑develop research and innovation that benefits customers, policymakers and the wider financial sector. Our work spans data‑driven research, challenge‑led innovation and talent development, delivered in partnership with colleagues across the University of Edinburgh.

A flagship element of this relationship is the Centre for Purpose‑Driven Innovation in Banking, co‑directed by Professor Michael Rovatsos (School of Informatics) and Professor Gbenga Ibikunle (ECFI). ECFI provides delivery support across projects and programmes, helping connect academic expertise to real‑world banking challenges.

Centre for Purpose‑Driven Innovation in Banking

The NatWest Group and the University of Edinburgh announced a new partnership to launch the new innovation centre on 7 June 2023.

Research outputs

Explainable Self-Attention Modeling for Financial Vulnerability Prediction

This research was funded through a University of Edinburgh Major Initiative Fund grant held by the Edinburgh Centre for Financial Innovations. The data and computing facilities were provided by NatWest, Smart Data Foundry, and Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre.

Research Report

Final report on Quantum Technologies for Machine Learning: State of the Art Review

Developed in partnership with the NatWest Group, this project, led by Professor Chris Heunen, aimed to explore the business opportunities afforded by quantum technology. This is the final report.

Research Report

Personalised Knowledge Grounding for AI Systems

Developed in partnership with the NatWest Group, this project, led by Dr Edoardo Ponti, aims to improve customer service and operational efficiency.

Research Project

Fraud Detection: Robust AI for Graphs

Developed in partnership with the Nat West Group, this project, led by Dr Henry Gouk and Professor Timothy Hospedales, aims to further protect its customers from financial fraud.

Research Project

Synthetic Data

Developed in partnership with the NatWest Group, this project, led by Professor Lukasz Szpruch, aims to develop synthetic data solutions across several use cases.

Research Project