How did London become Europe's leading fintech city?

According to recent data from London & Partners, London is Europe’s leading fintech hub.

Global investors are supposedly continuing to pump large sums of money into the capital’s fintech companies, with the research revealing that 2017 is a record year for investment into both London and the UK’s fintech sectors.

Around £825m has been poured into the UK’s financial technology companies since the beginning of the year, with double the amount raised compared with the same period in 2016.

London’s deputy mayor for business, Rajesh Agrawal, said: “London remains a world leader in fintech and the companies on the Mayor’s trade delegation are at the forefront of this exciting sector.

“More than £1bn in venture capital has been invested into London’s fintech sector since the EU referendum - this is yet more proof that global investors believe London will remain a leading fintech hub for many years.

“Clearly, Brexit poses major challenges, but London’s position as a global financial centre and world-class technology hub is built on strong foundations which cannot be replicated anywhere else.”

The research also suggest that British companies are on course to raise more money in 2017 than the records set in 2015, with the data showing firms have already received more investment than the first three quarters of 2015.

London continues to provide a major boost to the UK’s fintech sector, with the city’s firms raising over £769m and accounting for over 90 per cent of all investment into fintech companies across the UK in 2017.

The findings have been released to coincide with an upcoming trade mission of London’s financial technology companies to Money 20/20, the world’s largest fintech conference.

Led by the Mayor’s International Business Programme, a delegation of 12 of London’s fastest growing fintech companies will showcase themselves at the global trade show and explore investment and expansion opportunities in the US market.

Nikolay Storonsky, CEO of Revolut, added: “Whether you look at it from the perspective of talent, infrastructure, access to capital or the excellent regulatory environment, London is without question the best city in the world to launch a fintech startup.

“In just two years, Revolut has raised over $90m in investment and attracted over 900,000 users. There is no doubt in my mind that a large part of our success is down to choosing London and the UK as our headquarters and home.”

Further analysis of London & Partners investment data shows that global investors continue to see London as a leading hub for fintech despite Brexit, with London fintech companies attracting over $1bn in venture capital funding since the EU referendum vote.

London has also seen significantly more venture capital investment than many other global fintech hubs including Hong Kong, Mumbai and Singapore.

London continues to attract major investments from global financial services firms, with the recent news that Capital One opened a new office in Shoreditch in September.

This new 22,000 sq ft office will house up to 200 staff, as Capital One UK looks to take advantage of London’s high concentration of software developer talent.

To conclude, London retained the top spot ahead of other rival cities including Singapore, and New York in Z/Yen’s latest Global Financial Cities Index ranking.

According to TheCityUK, there are more head offices of banks in London than any other place in the world, which employ 150,000 people.

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