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UK fintech becoming less London-centric
A newly-published report has shown that London remains the second most active city in the world for fintech, behind San Francisco, but that the fintech space in the rest of the UK is expanding rapidly.
UK fintech continues to boom, despite a surge of activity in Europe. The continued UK rise is becoming less focused solely on London, however, according to new research from Findexable.
The firm ranks cities and countries around the world according to the number and success of their ‘fintech companies.
It found while London is by far the largest fintech hub in the UK, and second in the world after San Francisco, a number of cities outside of London are developing into thriving fintech hubs.
Birmingham entered the rankings at 123, Cardiff came close after at 127. the growth of what the report identifies as ‘tertiary hubs’ is also interesting. Fintechs in cities near London like Cambridge and Brighton alongside cities like Cardiff (ranked 127th) and Newcastle upon Tyne (ranked 155th).
Edinburgh, Belfast and Glasgow also rose strongly in the rankings.
Ron Kalifa, author of a recent Treasury sponsored review into the subject, also said last week at an online event organised by Open Banking Excellence, that fintech collaboration across the UK is increasingly important with the “success story” not confined to London.
”It is spread across the UK in clusters, and clusters are recognised to grow faster than the mainstream economy, they respond to innovation and opportunities much quicker, they employ 25 per cent more people than comparable businesses outside of London,” Kalifa said.
“The pandemic has catalysed digital financial inclusion, in the first months of lockdown, 12 per cent of the population in the UK, 6 Million people, downloaded a banking app for the very first time,” he added.
You can find the full report here.
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