London and the regions: Fintech’s connected future

Each year, UK FinTech Week serves as a useful reminder of just how far the national fintech ecosystem has come. Over a decade ago, the conversation was centred on disruption and novelty. Today, fintech is no longer adjacent to financial services; it is embedded within it.

Spending time with founders and investors at the Innovate Finance Global Summit each year reinforces London’s role as the international stage for that ecosystem – the place where global capital, policy and talent converge.

But alongside that comes a familiar criticism: that the UK’s fintech success remains too London-centric.

I have always thought that framing misses the point. London is undoubtedly the centre of gravity. But the strength of UK fintech increasingly comes from a network of specialised hubs across the country – in Scotland, the North, Wales and Northern Ireland – each contributing distinct expertise into a much larger national ecosystem….