Technology

Posted on August 27, 2019 by staff

FinTech leaders warn of risk to UK’s sector dominance

Technology

Some of the UK’s top FinTech founders have warned that government complacency could threaten the sector’s global leadership, according to a new survey.

Asked about Brexit’s impact on access to talent and capital, FinTech leaders shared their concerns about the UK’s inability to maintain its current output.

The survey, from the Digital Finance Forum found that more than half of their respondents have called for the government to appoint a Secretary of State for Technology to protect the reputation of UK FinTech.

Fifty FinTech founders took part in the survey, of which 63 per cent believed that the country was the global leader in FinTech, 33 per cent of which did not believe it would remain so in the next five years from now.

“The UK must not be complacent about being the world leader in Fintech and there’s definitely a feeling from Fintech founders, as revealed through this survey that this threatens to be the case,” said Christian Faes, chair of the Digital Finance Forum and co-founder of LendInvest which recently secured £200m in funding.

“There is clearly an opportunity with the new government to make the FinTech sector a priority again.”

Almost half also called for changes to regulation, allowing FinTech firms to compete with traditional banks, with some calling for Open Banking to be expanded.

Meanwhile in the same survey, respondents said they were more optimistic about their businesses now than they were at the start of the year.