In its seventh year, fintech ecosystem FinTech Scotland, has revealed that it has seen over 11,300 people work in the fintech sector in 2024, following an eight per cent year-on-year employment growth.
The fintech cluster in Scotland formed by the ecosystem has led the charge in technology adoption and advocated for fintech partnerships with established financial firms. Its success can be seen in the fact there has been a tenfold increase in fintechs in the country since 2018.
The growth further underlines the significant contribution fintech will make in delivering the UK Government Modern Industrial Strategy. It also highlight the importance of clusters to unleash the full potential of cities and regions.
Nicola Anderson, CEO at FinTech Scotland said: “Our cluster initiatives are delivering a positive economic outcome through more jobs, investment and innovative SME businesses. The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab highlights our leadership in using collaboration and technology adoption to deliver this growth and shape the future of financial services.”
Success stories
A significant cluster development in 2024 has been Fintech Scotland’s successful implementation of the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL). It has delivered new jobs and investment to the local economy, achieving £18million investment for the region in its first year.
This has been achieved by bringing together 25 financial and technology institutions from across the UK to address over 20 industry challenges, attracting local and global fintech SMEs to create new products.
Reflecting on growth
Catherine Martin, vice-principal corporate services at the University of Edinburgh said: “As a founding partner of Fintech Scotland, we are proud to be an active participant in the cluster and to support its impact by leveraging our world-renowned expertise in data-driven innovation, and interdisciplinary research to address real-world challenges in finance.”
Jane Martin, managing director, Scottish Enterprise commented: “The remarkable growth of Scotland’s fintech sector reflects the strategic efforts by the whole cluster to develop a thriving innovative environment. Scottish Enterprise has been supporting this journey by providing early-stage investment and facilitating international market access”.
Jackie Leiper, chief customer officer, Lloyds Banking Group added: “There’s a real buzz around the fintech sector in Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group is thrilled to be a part of that. We’re working hard to drive more digital investment here which will help us to build new skills and capabilities and make the country a global destination for financial services tech talent.”
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