Building a More Inclusive Fintech Ecosystem: Project Nemo Partners With HSBC Innovation Banking | The Fintech Times (2025)

Project Nemo, the initiative accelerating disability inclusion within fintech, has revealed that the UK population with a disability represents roughly £274billion a year in spending power. To help organisations tap into this revenue stream, while ultimately doing good for society by making financial services more accessible to those with a disability, Project Nemo has announced a partnership with HSBC Innovation Banking.

HSBC Innovation Banking, the flexible banking solutions provider, is collaborating with Project Nemo to help UK fintechs explore and understand the opportunities and benefits of building more inclusive and accessible products and services.

Malintha Fernando MBE, head of digital experience and accessibility – HSBC, said: “At HSBC we have an ambition to become the world’s most digitally accessible bank, and we are excited to be partnering with Project Nemo to share our experience with other organisations. We believe technology can be a force for good and we are using our international connectivity to enable more organisations to better serve the disabled and neurodivergent community across the world.”

Since its launch at Innovate Finance Global Summit in April 2024, Project Nemo has highlighted the need to increase focus on accessibility and inclusion within fintech and catalysed an industry-wide drive to adapt fintech solutions to ensure accessibility. The initiative’s urgency to achieve greater inclusion has been accelerated by the sheer number of people that would stand to benefit from improvements; more than one in five people (16.0 million people) live with a disability in the UK.

The next step

On Wednesday 23 April 2025 founders, CEOs, and other leaders from UK fintechs are invited to an in-person event which will bring together perspectives from key disability advocates, end users, and accessibility experts to provide the inspiration, rationale and practical steps fintechs need to drive forward financial inclusion for disabled customers and end users.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Zac Shaw, co-captain of 2024 Paralympics Team GB
• Adi Latif, accessibility, and inclusive design consultant
• Lord Craig MacKinlay, Baron Mackinlay of Richborough, JP
• Miranda McLean, CMO, Ecommpay
• Joanne Dewar, co-founder, Project Nemo
• Kris Foster, co-founder, Project Nemo
• Malintha Fernando, global head of digital experience and accessibility, HSBC

Carly Burrows, managing director – head of corporate finance and ecosystem lead disability ERG, HSBC Innovation Banking UK, adds: “As an organisation we are passionate about improving accessibility and inclusivity, and this initiative is an exciting way in which we can bring the resources of our colleagues at HSBC to benefit both our own customers and the wider ecosystem.

“Project Nemo has really put accessibility on the fintech agenda, and I’m incredibly pleased that HSBC Innovation Banking is able to play an active role in turning interest into action.”

At the event

The HSBC Digital Experience and Accessibility team will be providing live assessments of fintech products to show business leaders what steps they can take to improve accessibility. More details will also be shared about a new digital training programme and further assessment clinics for technical teams taking place on 29 May 2025.

Joanne Dewar, Project Nemo lead, comments: “We are thrilled to be teaming up with HSBC Innovation Banking, a team I have worked closely with for many years who have always been major supporters of the whole fintech ecosystem. Extending this event and the training that follows beyond their immediate customer base coupled with providing bespoke insights by the HSBC Digital Experience and Accessibility team is of enormous value to our industry.”