FinTech Scotland Enters 5th Year, Celebrates Fintech Innovation in Scotland

FinTech Scotland has confirmed a 27% increase in the number of fintech enterprises in Scotland as the cluster management organization reaches its fourth anniversary.

The FinTech SME community has now reached 190 Compared to 147 this time last year and just 26 firms when Fintech Scotland started four years ago in January 2018.

An acceleration in the move to a digital economy and the demand for innovative solutions across the financial services industry and the broader economy is driving the creation and adoption of new products and services.

The growth in Scotland comes alongside the Innovate Finance announcement last week that investment infintech firms across the UK jumped by more than 200% in 2021 compared to the previous year,

Fintech Scotland activities have been bolstered by increasing collaboration with thirty strategic partners, across financial services, global technology and professional services, academia, and the public sector.

This has enabled the fintech cluster to deepen its impact with successes noted in the growing number of business partnerships between the large financial institutions and Scotland’s fintech SMEs.

Reflecting on 2021, Stephen Ingledew, Executive Chair of Fintech Scotland said, “I’d like to pay tribute to my Fintech Scotland colleagues for the drive, relentless endeavors, creativity, and leadership over the year. I’m hugely proud of our progress and recognition across the UK and look forward to continuing our collaboration with fintech SMEs, strategic partners, and many friends in the wider UK fintech movement as we drive the impact of innovation”.

Looking forward to the year ahead, Nicola Anderson, Chief Executive of FinTech Scotland said: “Our Fintech Scotland journey will make a further leap forward this year when we unveil our ten-year Fintech Research and Innovation report, an industry-led roadmap which will set out a framework to shape the future of financial services and the fintech in the digital economy.”

“It will be central to our 2022 plans and builds on the growing investment across fintech in Scotland. I am passionate about ensuring our cluster leadership role continues to make a significant positive contribution to impactful innovation, the climate agenda, diversity, and inclusion, as well as demonstrating how fintech can solve real societal issues.”

Additional information:

• You can read more about the FinTech Scotland Cluster in our recently published “Building a Global Fintech Cluster”.

• Below, a representation of the Scottish fintech communityat 8th January 2022 (FinTech Scotland’s 4th Anniversary).

About FinTech Scotland

FinTech Scotland is an independent not for profit cluster body jointly established by the financial services sector, universities, and Scottish Government/Scottish Enterprise to ensure that Scotland seizes the FinTech opportunities and achieves positive economic and social outcomes by encouraging financial innovation, collaboration and inclusion as part of the country’s broader digital economy objectives.

The organization acts as a strategic enabler and cluster management body focused on leveraging the potential economic (i.e. productivity, innovation, business creation, employment) and social (i.e. financial inclusion, well-being, and accessibility) benefits arising from becoming a leading global center focused on Fintech innovation.

FinTech Scotland’s objectives are to develop an innovative community of FinTech firms, generate impactful collaborations between firms of all sizes and foster an inclusive cluster that is globally recognized and connected.

In January 2020, FinTech Scotland was formally recognized for the development of the Fintech cluster in Scotland and accredited with the bronze label for Cluster Management Excellence by the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis.

FinTech Scotland was initially founded in January 2018 as a joint initiative by Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, University of Edinburgh, Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise. The organization is now supported by a broad range of global financial services, technology and professional services firms as well as the University of Edinburgh and the University of Strathclyde, the Financial Conduct Authority, Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise.

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