There are many reasons for our global FinTech dominance. We have the right geographical location as an international capital city, the right regulation and the biggest financial sector to incubate FinTech talent. We’ve got thousands of people working in the sector and investment continues to grow every year.
Of course, there’s always room for improvement and challenges still prevail. Many FinTech firms still struggle to get the kinds of local investment that’s easier to come by in the US — the kind of funding that helps FinTech firms scale-up and become a global powerhouse.
In fact, American financing and foreign investment is one of the engines driving UK’s booming tech growth. In 2014 $1.4bn worth of new funding was poured into innovative firms in London, while $2.1bn was invested across Britain. Astonishingly, that’s 20 times higher than five years ago.
Indeed, this remarkable injection of foreign investment is driving our sector forward but it also shows that a lot more can be done to encourage local investors to be less risk averse and more involved in the future of homegrown FinTech. In this case, more is better — more investment, more funding, more FinTech, more impact for the global financial services sector.
Despite the challenges we face, the UK is the best place for FinTech investment and its only a matter of time before we see more UK start ups launching IPOs here. The future of finance is here — and we are all ready to grab it with both hands and create a sector that means something to everyone.