All roads lead to London?!

At London Fintech Week, Lord Anthony St John has shared his view on why London is the future of fintech, despite the innovation happening at large scale in other regions.

1. Progressive regulatory framework and initiatives. Examples include: a) FCA sandbox that enables to test products and services in a controlled environment, b) recent commitments by the Bank of England and Chancellor of the Exchequer to embrace fintech, c) “Innovate UK” a non-departmental public body that operates at arm's length from the Government as part of the United Kingdom Research and Innovation organisation.
2. Skilled labour now and in the future. To enable the growth of future talent, Innovate Finance (an independent membership association that represents the UK’s global FinTech community) has recently launched fintech for schools campaign.
3. Startups that are the lifeblood of the sector and that drive innovation.

According to Lord St John, fintech has a long way to go with 1.23 million of unbanked working adults in the UK and 16 million people having less than £100 in their savings accounts.

Overall, the numbers speak for themselves. London is top choice for overseas tech companies looking to expand or set up an operation outside of their own country according to London & Partners.

In the past year, 91 international tech firms chose to expand or set up an operation in London with total investments worth £864m, ahead of cities such as Singapore and Paris.

"Since the creation of the ‘Tech City’ project in 2008, London has cemented its position as a global super hub for international tech talent and investment, with the research revealing that over the past 10 years, London has received 916 tech FDI projects – again more than any other tech city globally. In total, global tech investment projects in the last ten years were worth over £9.5bn to the city’s economy, creating over 27,600 jobs. 

London’s attractiveness as a top destination to grow and scale an international tech company was further boosted by the news that the city’s tech firms received £2.56bn in venture capital funding in the first half of 2019, representing a record when compared with the first six months of any other year previously."

The content above was originally posted on CMS Digitalbytes - CMS lawyers sharing comment and commentary on all things tech.