In July, we convened the Perseus User Needs & Impact Advisory Group, co-chaired by Sage and Icebreaker One. The meeting aimed to address the following:

  1. Validate ‘What is the size of the prize’ underlying capital of banks influence 
  2. Hear from banks £ saving from automation
  3. Update on WG progress and define Q3 remit

Date: 16th July 2024 10:30-12:00 BST

Location: online

Summary

  • It was noted that:
    • AG1’s action log was reviewed:
      • Members are requested to share their business value propositions.
      • Members are requested to connect internal departments may also need to be informed or engaged with other AGs.
      • Members are requested to let us know what form of ‘endorsement’ can be achieved within your remit. Note that the Perseus governance structure already includes UK Finance, IoD and ICAEW in a formal oversight role.
    • The pilot user journey was presented, outlining the process from an SME perspective.
    • Working Group updates include:
      • WG1: Use Cases for Pilot is still to kick off.
      • WG2: User Needs is focusing on identifying needs, challenges and opportunities for users around lending and benchmarking.
      • WG3: Assurance is defining assurance in:
        • Electricity generation data
        • Smart meter reading data
        • SME GHG emissions calculations data
      • WG4: Ecosystem Map has been kicked off with initial discussions focusing on how to establish a framework and roles.
      • WG5: Future Use Cases is exploring broader framing around unlocking finance for the green transition. Potential future use cases were discussed including: gas, family offices, public sector procurement, CRAs, and infrastructure.
  • The Perseus value case for members was discussed:
    • Carbon Accounting Providers (CAP): compliance reporting, improving accuracy of reporting, developing carbon emission/reduction models.
    • Banks: able to deploy finance and help customers to decarbonise by providing 1) benchmarked assurance and 2) tangible impact to facilitate finance flows.
    • SMEs gain access to finance at lower costs, the ability to share their carbon accounting footprint in a frictionless way, and access to corporate supply chain and OpEx savings.
  • It was noted that members were asked to feed back on the impact that Perseus could have on their respective total addressable markets.

The next meeting will take place on October 21st 2024.

Co-chairs:

Duncan Oswald, Sage

Gavin Starks, Icebreaker One

Secretariat support:

Icebreaker One

Formal records, including attendees, are maintained by the secretariat, and are confidential to the Advisory Group members.