Numbers add up to success for city’s thriving financial technology sector

A new report from Whitecap Consulting shows the FinTech sector in the Leeds City Region has experienced huge growth over the last three years, is now home to more than 100 FinTech firms and is contributing more than £700m per year to the regional economy.

The report is published at a time when the financial sector in the region is thriving, buoyed by the decisions of the Financial Conduct Authority, UK Infrastructure Bank and Bank of England to establish bases in Leeds.

More than 100 FinTech – or financial technology – firms have been identified in the Leeds City Region, the vast majority of which are start-ups and scale-ups, a segment which has trebled in number over the last three years. Core strengths are visible in payments, lending, financial regulation, wealth management and banking.

The region is already home to more than 60 established national and international financial services organisations, all of which are active in FinTech, including numerous banks and lending firms, and three of the UK’s largest building societies. Leeds is also the only city outside London to be home to all three of the UK’s major credit reference agencies.

The new report is the result of a research project which was funded through sponsorship and support from Leeds City Council and other key organisations such as Leeds Building Society, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Bruntwood SciTech, Cloud Gateway, Equiniti, the University of Leeds, FinTech North and the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership. It is the third report published by Whitecap on the Leeds City Region, with its previous one being published early in 2020, just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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