Thursday 19 June 2014

London’s strengths in financial services and its growing tech expertise mean the city is well placed to lead the world in financial technology, experts will say today (June 19).

The city’s high density of tech start-ups, its large number of financial services technology workers and the proximity of many of the world’s biggest banks are also positive advantages for London’s financial technology (fintech) sector, the experts will say.
 

The fintech experts – who include Thomas Davies, Chief Investment Officer at Seedrs; Bindi Karia, Vice President at Silicon Valley Bank; and Nektarios Liolios, Managing Director at Startupbootcamp – will discuss the capital’s global position at “Is London Leading the global Fintech race?” – an event run by Streets Consulting and London Partners that is part of London Technology Week, the largest collection of tech events ever seen in Europe.
 

The event follows the publication of an independent report on Monday by South Mountain Economics, and supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, that says London employs more workers in financial technology than either New York City or San Francisco-Silicon Valley.
 

Kit Malthouse, Deputy Mayor of London for Business and Enterprise, said: “Fintech stands out as an area in which London is particularly expert, differentiating us from the tech sectors of Silicon Valley and elsewhere. London is merging its traditional strength in financial services with its new talent for tech, attracting international and domestic investment and creating new financial products and services designed to improve consumer and investor confidence and make our lives simpler. The growth and wealth creation contribution of fintech continues to make a substantial contribution to our economy.”
 

According to a March 2014 report by Accenture, global investment in fintech has tripled during the last five years, with some $3 billion invested in 2013. The report says that this growth represents a significant opportunity for London, that the city has become the fintech capital of Europe, and that fintech financing in London has grown at twice the rate of Silicon Valley since 2008.

 

In addition to being home to several of the world’s leading fintech companies – including Transferwise, Funding Circle and Zopa – London also leads the way in infrastructure support in the form of accelerator and incubators schemes including Level39, Europe’s largest accelerator space for financial technology.
 

Speakers at Is London Leading the global FinTech race? include:
 

  • Ophelia Brown, Investor at Index Ventures
  • Claire Cockerton, CEO at Pivotal Innovations
  • Thomas Davies, Chief Investment Officer at Seedrs
  • Bindi Karia, Vice President at Silicon Valley Bank
  • Nektarios Liolios, Managing Director at Startupbootcamp
  • Kit Malthouse, Deputy Mayor of London for Business and Enterprise
  • Matteo Rizzi, General Partner at SBT Venture Capital
  • Julian Skan, Managing Director Banking Europe at Accenture

Notes to Editors

Accenture report available at: http://www.accenture.com/Microsites/fsinsights/capital-markets-uk/Documents/Accenture-Global-Boom-in-Fintech-Investment.pdf
 

South Mountain Economics report available via Bloomberg press office – please contact Caroline Vaughan, EMEA Corporate Communications, Bloomberg LP, cvaughan2@bloomberg.net

London Partners is the Mayor’s official promotional organisation for London. Our company attracts and delivers value to business, students and visitors. London Partners is a not-for-profit public private partnership, funded by the Mayor of London and a network of commercial partners.


Our remit is to drive leisure and business visitors as well as bidding to secure major events in London, to unlock the city for overseas businesses who want to set up or expand in London and to promote the capital’s world class universities to international students.


Our intention is to work in partnership with organisations in London and across the world to deliver our goal – that London be globally recognised as the best big city on earth.


For more information visit www.londonandpartners.com       
 

About Streets Consulting Ltd
 

Business development, marketing and communications consultancy
supporting international financial services, technology and fast growth companies.
 

Streets Consulting offers experience and insight from our work across many aspects of the financial services industry.   
 

Our clients include established organisations with a pedigree of introducing technology to deliver efficiency, reduce risk and improve performance; and FinTech entrepreneurs and their investors, challenging and changing the world of financial services for the better.  

 

Contact

For London Partners, please contact Norval Scott, Media PR Manager – FDI: nscott@londonandpartners.com, +44 207 234 5789, +44 7720 737 378