London leading the world in fintech firms | David Sapsted
A global survey of the top ten fintech cities has revealed that London now hosts the world’s largest number of fintech companies. Overall, the city comes third in the ranking behind first-place San Francisco and New York.
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But the research by embedded finance platform Fluro found that London had the most fintech companies – 1,866 including 25 unicorns – with even more fintech funding available than New York.
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The US tops global fintech funding
San Francisco topped the table thanks to the highest funding available at almost £204 billion, as well as 4,326 investors and 46 fintech unicorns.New York took second place due to the number of investors (3,521), but the available funding of £122bn trailed London’s £138bn.The top three were significantly ahead in virtually every category of the other cities in the top ten, which included (in order) Singapore, Stockholm, Berlin, Los Angeles, Boston, Toronto and Paris.
Fintech fills gaps left by traditional institutions
Nick Harding, Fluro’s chief executive, said: “Growth in the fintech market has accelerated over the last 10 years, largely due to technological breakthroughs, and it’s great to see points of expertise emerging around the world for both businesses and individuals looking to work .in this industry.“Fintech companies have filled the gap left by traditional institutions that struggled to keep pace with changing consumer behaviour. Efficient, timely and personalized services are more important than ever in the financial sector to ensure a positive customer experience.“As the industry continues to grow worldwide, it may be time for businesses, consumers and future talent to get on board with digital finance.”
London ‘one of the best places’ to pursue fintech careers
The survey found that there are currently 3,441 fintech job opportunities in the UK capital, with an average annual salary of £54,312, making it one of the best places in the world to pursue a fintech career.The publication of the research coincided with the announcement this week that one of London’s leading fintech companies had recruited more than 1,000 new staff in the past year.Money transfer company Wise said it plans to hire an additional 300 staff over the coming months. In the past year, the firm said, it had increased its workforce by 43 percent to nearly 4,000.Matt Briers, the company’s CFO, said: “We’ve had a really good start to the year. We’re actually hiring quite quickly – more and more customers are using our accounts to receive money and hold money.“A lot of the reason people use us is non-discretionary, so we expect this to continue.”The Evening Standard newspaper reported that Wise had increased turnover by 55 per cent to £397m in the six months to September, while pre-tax profits almost tripled on last year to £51.3m and customer numbers increased to 5.5m in second quarter.It is estimated that the global fintech market will be worth £310bn by the start of next year.
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