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  2. Why the UK / Innovation

Becoming a digital-first economy

Innovation that expands boundaries

Supportive regulation, creatively minded start-ups, and strong domestic demand provide myriad investment opportunities

The UK's offer

  • A leading hub for financial and professional services innovation and tech, ahead of other major global financial centres
  • Ranked top for fintech investment in Europe
  • The best in technology expertise, training and talent
  • A forward-looking policy environment with regulators who actively support innovation
  • The UK’s FPS and tech ecosystem provides a strong alternative to the US, which has less regulatory coordination, and Asian centres, which lack market size and activity

Reach for the bigger picture and build your success

Financial and professional services in the UK are part of a ‘one-of-a-kind innovation ecosystem’. This brings together strong policy support; the finance and access to global markets required for an idea to take off, and future-focused talent from world-leading financial and professional services, and tech sectors.

This unique combination of elements allows collaboration and creativity to thrive, making the UK an ideal place to drive digital transformation in finance and professional services.

Committed to innovation

The UK Government and regulators are committed to keeping the UK at the global cutting edge of technology. Its progressive and collaborative approach to regulation removes the barriers to testing and launching innovative FPS products.

Find out more

The Women Pivoting to Digital Taskforce

The Women Pivoting to Digital Taskforce

Download the report

Financial and professional services: the future of AI and the workforce

Financial and professional services: the future of AI and the workforce

Get involved

AI | Innovation Challenge

AI | Innovation Challenge

Fintech

Fintech

Cyber security

Cyber security

RegTech

RegTech

Policy and regulation supporting new tech solutions from concept to development and beyond

Leading on regulation for digital assets and incorporating DLT into capital markets

A commitment to international cooperation on AI regulation and a new AI sandbox

A closer look at corporate venture investing in UK tech

Corporate Venture Capital: harnessing the UK’s potential

Corporate Venture Capital: harnessing the UK’s potential

UK fintech stands out for its resilience in a challenging global investment environment

The UK | a resilient fintech investment environment

The UK | a resilient fintech investment environment

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Powerful Pensions:
Unlocking DC capital for UK tech growth

Powerful Pensions:
Unlocking DC capital for UK tech growth

The UK’s vision to be a global hub for digital assets and technologies

The UK: a global hub for digital assets and technologies

The UK: a global hub for digital assets and technologies

Funding innovation

The UK is the place to start, grow and scale innovative financial technology businesses. With a tech ecosystem second only to the US in size and activity, and nearly half of all of Europe’s fintech investment, it offers a wealth of opportunities to both fintech founders and investors.  

London is home  to one of the biggest and most diverse financial services cluster in the world. Centres of excellence UK wide make a fintech a national strength, and offers firms market access, client development and funding opportunities for fintechs. 

£10bn

PE and VC UK FinTech investment in 2023

more than any other country except the US

#1

unicorn hub in Europe by far

and third biggest internationally

Half of the top 10

FinTech deals in EMEA in H1 2024

were accounted for by the UK

$30bn

worth of cyber security startups founded & HQ’ed in the UK

between 2017 and 2022

Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology

The Kalifa Review of UK fintech recommended the establishment of a Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT). 

In 2023, the City of London Corporation worked with HMT to launch CFIT. It focuses on financial innovation in the UK by bringing together experts from across the finance and technology ecosystem. Their aim is to identify and address opportunities and barriers to growth for UK fintech.

Find out more about CFIT

Access to the best talent

The UK has a diverse international talent pool with a unique combination of technology and FPS expertise and a solid pipeline of future-ready skills. 

The UK is home to three of the world’s most intensive science and technology clusters: Cambridge, Oxford and London.  This gives both incumbent businesses and startups easy access to cutting edge research and people they need for their firms to succeed. 

42%

of UK graduates come from

business, mathematics or information technology programmes

12%

of AI engineering talent is in London

the highest share of any European city

42%

of UK fintech workers are from overseas

with cultural diversity driving creativity and innovation

Partner story

Simmons Wavelength

Simmons Wavelength

Partner story

Tribe Payments

Tribe Payments

"The presence of so many different angels, financial services and consulting professionals in the UK, makes it easy to get Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and EIS funding. This is further encouraged by the recent Kalifa Review where they are proposing to expand R&D tax credits, Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Venture Capital Trusts (VCT)."

Vishnu Chundi, Co-founder and CEO AssetVault

"There is so much experience and innovation in the digitisation of financial services here in the UK that I think the UK will be able to play a disproportionately important role globally by rolling out those innovations into other markets."

Nadia Sood, Group CEO and Founder CreditEnable

"In terms of innovative fintech startups, London was the obvious choice as the hub of cutting-edge technology companies that redefine various industries and sectors."

Sylvia Carrasco, Founder and CEO Goldex

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