The government is launching a national hub to boost fintech growth
The government has announced the launch of a national hub for FinTech, called the Center for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT), to drive the growth of the sector on a global scale. CFIT is supported by £5.5m of funding from the Treasury and the City of London Corporation and will boost growth and innovation, promote businesses and promote job creation across the sector.
Launched at an event in Leeds, the hub also aims to promote the benefits of new and innovative technology that will expand consumer choice, cut costs and increase efficiency. CFIT is the first of its kind and will help firms achieve truly global scale, supporting around 2,500 organizations and tens of thousands of jobs in the UK, which ranks second for FinTech investment behind the US.
Howard Wimpory, KYC Transformation Director at Encompass Corporation, said: “It is encouraging to see the Government giving this support to the FinTech industry and, more broadly, digital transformation, which is creating opportunities for growth while helping economic recovery. The UK technology sector has overall seen enormous potential, with innovation at a high level, and support of this kind can help organizations exploit the solutions in it to their advantage.
“Widespread efforts to help organizations truly unlock the potential of digital transformation is where strong, long-term value will be created across industries, and financial services in particular. These organizations must now recognize the importance of using the new and emerging solutions at their disposal, which not only adds business value but also helps protect the nation from the ever-evolving threat of financial crime.
“Realizing these goals requires companies to embark on or accelerate their digital transformation journeys, embracing state-of-the-art cloud-powered technology to overhaul manual processes and instead rely on automation, which delivers long-term operational benefits to power success.”
Charlotte Crosswell OBE, chair of CFIT, said the launch “represents an important moment for the UK’s FinTech sector and our wider economy. This organization will enable us to come together as a sector to start breaking down barriers that The FinTech sector is facing, while creating a clear path for our homegrown FinTech companies to achieve global scale, impact and success.”
