The research projects commence at a time when the UK’s FinTech sector is now said to be generating £6.6 billion in revenues per year, and is acknowledged to represent a significant regional opportunity for cities and regions outside of the thriving sector in London.
Due to be published later this year in three separate reports, the research will aim to analyse the current FinTech activity taking place within each of the regions to help understand where the areas of current and potential future competitive advantage lie. It is being conducted with support from organisations within each of the regions, and Whitecap is seeking sponsors to help ‘crowdfund’ the project.
Whitecap’s research will provide recommendations as to how each region can look to develop and capitalise on their areas of competitive advantage, and will engage with the key stakeholders in each region and key players from the national ecosystem to ensure as complete a picture as possible can be established. Whitecap previously completed FinTech research in the Leeds City Region in 2018.
Richard Coates, Managing Director of Whitecap Consulting, says:
“The national FinTech market is evolving and growing beyond the start-up and investment focused activity in London. There are several regional clusters and communities developing across the UK, fuelled by tech entrepreneurs as well as corporates keen to engage with FinTechs.
“As the regional FinTech landscape continues to form, it is important to understand and further develop the regional ecosystems, to support productivity and growth. We know from our relationships with national bodies such as Innovate Finance and HM Treasury that there is demand for this type of regional insight and acceleration, to help them provide the best support they can to these regions.”
LEEDS CITY REGION
Eve Roodhouse, Chief Officer of Economic Development, Leeds City Council says:
“Leeds City Council is pleased to continue its support for this research, which last year concluded that the Leeds City Region FinTech ecosystem has significant growth potential which is being driven by the established Financial Services sector’s increasing desire to engage with FinTech innovation. We see the Digital Economy, including FinTech, as strategically important to the future of the city and look forward to reviewing the findings of this year’s report.”
Read more about the Leeds City Region research here
NORTH EAST
Sabby Gill, Managing Director, Sage UKI, says:
“Sage is delighted to support this research and uncover the growth potential within the North East FinTech market. As the largest listed technology company in the UK with our spiritual home in the North East, we hope the outcomes from the research will encourage more investment in this region.”
Read more about the North East research here
BRISTOL REGION
David Henderson, Head of Transformation at Hargreaves Lansdown, says:
“Bristol is known as a city with advanced capability in technology sectors. When combined with a heritage in financial services this puts Bristol in a strong position to continue to develop into a FinTech centre of excellence. We are therefore delighted to support this important piece of research which we feel can play a key role in highlighting and promoting the FinTech sector in Bristol on a national and international level.”
Read more about the Bristol research here.
Whitecap Consulting, FinTech North & FinTech West
Established in 2012, Whitecap Consulting is a regional strategy consultancy headquartered in Leeds, with offices in Newcastle, Manchester, Milton Keynes, and Bristol. Whitecap works with clients across multiple sectors, with Financial Services and FinTech being key areas of focus.
Whitecap is the co-founder of FinTech North, the not for profit event-based initiative that has hosted 40 events across the north since 2016, including major conferences in Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool. The most recent Leeds conference took place in May and drew over 300 delegates and featured expert FinTech speakers from the region and across the UK.Over recent months FinTech North has held two successful seminars in Newcastle and a full day FinTech North conference is planned for 25th September, to be held at Sage’s Great Park offices.
Whitecap is also the co-organiser of FinTech West, the not for profit event-based initiative that has hosted 2 successful events in Bristol over recent months and has further event activity scheduled in September and November. The November event will take place during Bristol Technology Festival.
To understand more about how you can support the research please contact [email protected]
Download the 2018 Leeds City Region report here:
