A Perseus Steering Group was convened on 2026-07-27. Co-chaired by Innovate Finance and Icebreaker One, the Perseus Steering Group includes major trade associations that represent stakeholders, UK Government and international observers. It plays a critical role in engagement, dissemination, and fostering trust in decision-making. 

Meeting Aims 

1. Update on the roadmap, AGs and DOC
2. Discuss engagement and tactics for Perseus
3. Plan a 2026 gathering

Summary:

• It was agreed that:
  • Five live case studies remain the year-end delivery target.
  • The Perseus for Domestic briefing note will be circulated
  • Innovation workshops with individual members will be explored as a complement to the top-down engagement approach.
  • AG4 will build a joined-up coalition narrative, including what it means for end customers
• It was noted that:
  • Xero has joined as a new member alongside Intuit and Sage, giving the ecosystem combined reach to over 1 million SMEs.
  • 2026 roadmap milestones are broadly on track, albeit with FSP case studies slow, but progress is being made. Q3 priorities include agreeing interoperability with Open Banking.
  • Palace of Westminster events are planned for the autumn with a sponsor secured: a build-up session in a committee room and a larger terrace event.
  • AG1 highlighted the need to resolve marketing permissions, embed finance where the customer is, and consider energy intensity as a metric.
  • AG2 highlighted sandbox improvements, better synthetic data, member-contributed datasets, and a planned autumn developer meetup focused on AI-assisted integration.
  • AG4 highlighted the need to demonstrate short-term value to members, tailor communications to different organisational priorities, and better articulate non-product value.
  • The DOC highlighted that Perseus’ financial outlook for 2026 has been revised down again, as membership commitments in principle are converting slowly to paid invoices. Prioritisation is ensuring core delivery is on track and the Perseus team is focusing on helping members deliver use cases.
• It was discussed that:
  • Identifying advanced, specific SME users who could champion Perseus use cases, would complement top-down institutional messaging with bottom-up engagement.
  • Messaging should lead with opportunity and optimism. There is scope to interlock with the Climate Hub’s existing “grow, save costs, be resilient” framing.
  • Members imagining the counter-outcome: without Perseus reaching scale, sustainable finance risks will fail to reach mass market.
  • ‘Perseus for Domestic’ could align with the Warm Homes Initiative, this is at a coalition-building and political alignment stage.

Next meeting: Monday 2 November 2026 13:00-15:00 BST

Formal records, including attendees, are maintained by the secretariat. 

These are confidential to the Steering Group Members.