The London Stock Exchange supports a review of fintech growth

Fintech Week London launched the independent review to address the explosive growth and rapid decline of the fintech industry.

Image source: Raf De Kimpe / Fintech Week London.

The London Stock Exchange supports a new review of the rise and fall in financing and valuations in the fintech industry in recent years.

The review, launched by Fintech Week London (FTWL), will bring together key industry partners, regulators, investors and fintech companies to ensure that the industry “continues to thrive”.

After record high investment levels in 2021, there has been a sharp decline in fintech support in 2022, with companies struggling to raise funds.

There has been an unfortunate increasing trend with declining valuations, staffing and recruitment stops in the industry as a whole.

The “groundbreaking” industry review hopes to address this explosive growth and rapid decline in financing and valuations in the fintech industry.

“Of the many current issues affecting the international fintech field, the recent forecast of VC funding is one affecting the entire ecosystem,” said FTWL CEO Raf De Kimpe.

“Fintechs at all stages of growth and development will feel the impact of changing valuations, slower funding rounds and investor hesitation.”

He explained that this will have a contagious effect on technology development, acquisition and storage of talent, and the flow of innovative financial solutions to the end user.

He urged the community to share their thoughts on how best to protect the fintech industry in this independent review.

“We want to know how the industry can move away from hyper-valuations and unsustainable business models to refocus on financial products and services that improve the world in real time,” De Kimpe added.

“How did we get here and how do we move forward from this to ensure that fintech remains one of the UK’s great success stories.”

The review has been supported by the London Stock Exchange, the Fintech Times and fintech specialist PR firm SkyParlour, with more expected to follow.

In a particularly uncertain economic climate, the government wants fintech to “define” the UK economy after Brexit, commented account director Rhys Merrett in PHA Group.

While the country is seen as a global fintech hub, he said, the myriad of problems the industry faces has put it at a crossroads, which is what led to the launch of the review.

“For fintech to remain a core industry in the UK, it must move from growth to consolidation. A reduction in valuations and investments is not necessarily a negative trend,” Merrett said.

“If anything, it ensures that the sector can collectively take a step back and evaluate its long-term direction correctly. After all, with Web3 technologies such as blockchain on the horizon, there is a high probability that we will see a new wave of fintech- innovation in the coming years. “

He called for the review to find out how momentum can be maintained to keep the industry on a steady growth path, instead of going through “volatile” peaks and troughs, “which do not contribute to investment flows”.