Why London is the city to establish your Fintech company

The UK has seen its influence within the Fintech community grow and grow in the last decade. It was bolstered in 2015 when David Cameron laid out a manifesto to increase the number of UK workers in Fintech to 235,000 people, marking a 100,000 increase in 5 years. Naturally, London would represent the beating heart of this industry and it has garnered the attention of some of the world’s hottest Fintechs around, including Atom Bank, TransferWise, Revolut and Clear Bank to name but a few. In February 2017 alone, Atom Bank raised a venture capital round that reportedly closed at close to £100m. But what is it that means the UK is attracting so many of these highly valued enterprises?

All in one place

London is without a doubt where the vast amount of major policy decisions and technological innovations in the UK are made. That means that Fintechs have access to a wealth of the UK’s hottest talent as well as industry leaders and policy setters who are there to guide and advise. In the US, for example, you can’t find all of these in one place and would have to seek out Washington, Silicon Valley and New York to bring all of this expertise together.

Government support and tax breaks

In 2015, George Osborne announced the construction of three multidisciplinary research centres which would make vast improvements to the UK Digital Economy’s knowledge and skills. At the same time, it has been agreed that by 2020, UK corporation tax will drop from 20% to 17%, making profitability easier to achieve.

A strong desire to invest

Following the natural uncertainty that has arisen regarding Brexit, investment in 2016 fell by a third but still amounted to a whopping £630m worth of funding into Fintech firms.

FCA support

In February 2016, the FCA Director of Strategy and Competition, Christopher Woolard, made clear the layout of what is deemed “the sandbox”. This gives Fintech companies the ability to test out and develop their ideas without the fear of the normal reprisals that can incur for established firms. This reduces the fear of starting out in the UK financial sector and encourages innovation.

In the coming years, any uncertainty over Brexit should settle and the UK can see where it stands globally in the service sector. With such strong measures in place to promote UK Fintech, it is hoped that we are in as strong a position as previous and it is expected we may have grown even further.

There are naturally many fears when starting up a financial organisation in any country and amongst them are fears of legal issues, dealing with UK market entry, HR, Finance and Payroll. That is why Goodwille exists. With a strong proven track record, we hope to help support and develop UK innovation through working with technology start-ups. So if you are a company looking to possibly open a office in the UK and need advice and support on any of the aforementioned points, then please do get in touch.