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Offering unparalleled financial expertise

Leeds - the northern fintech hub

Leeds City region fintech highlights

  • Strong financial sector including more than 40 established financial services organisations - increasingly receptive to FinTech and digital transformation.
  • Strengths in retail banking, consumer and business lending, insurance and credit referencing.
  • Significant strength in financial technology consulting, with Leeds headquartered firms serving all the major UK banks and numerous other organisations outside the region.
  • The Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) was launched at University of Leeds' Nexus facility in 2023.
  • Named as one of the top 20 fastest growing global fintech hubs to watch in 2020.

A hub of expertise

A Financial Centre of Excellence, Leeds is home to a substantial cluster of banking - with over 30 national and international banks - accountancy, with 150 firms including the Big Four; and a growing insurance sector. It is primed to develop as a leading location for fintech and insuretech, and is home to the UK's first fintech accelerator outside of London  as well as Lloyds Banking Group’s Digital Transformation Lab. Home to 101,000 financial and professional services jobs, Leeds is a hub of expertise; nearly two-thirds of jobs in the sector are highly skilled and the city exports £3.9bn in financial and professional services.

A major and established centre for legal services – over 1500 legal companies are based in the Leeds City Region, including 28 of the UK’s top 100 law firms, employing over 14,400 people and generating almost £1bn per year. 

Foreign direct investment of £114m in financial and professional services brought 1,300 new jobs to Leeds between 2019 and 2023.

Whitecap Consulting

Leeds City Region Fintech Report 2023

Leeds City Region Fintech Report 2023

Developing as a leading location for fintech 

The fintech sector in the Leeds City Region continues to benefit from having a large financial services sector and a strong presence of nationally successful technology consultancies, with more than 9 out of 10 people in fintech estimated to be working in established organisations.

The region has also continued to build its reputation as a thriving digital hub and has an increasingly high profile nationally and internationally.

Leeds City Region is home to the second highest concentration of scaleups (across all sectors) outside of the South East, and Leeds itself is also the highest-ranking city outside of London for scaleups. Clearly the region has strong credentials as a good place to grow an established business.

Leeds has more scaleups than any other Local Authority outside London.

Leeds City Region Legal Tech Innovation 2020

The legal sector is at a point of major industry transformation. Leeds City Region is ideally positioned to be UK leaders in this transformation. The combination of the region’s sizeable legal sector, its multi-sector digital tech capability, and a large pool of experienced and graduate talent, are all key factors according to a new report published by Whitecap Consulting.

Download the legal tech report

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BJSS: Shaping FinTech innovation for over 25 years

BJSS: Shaping FinTech innovation for over 25 years

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