The West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) and the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) have confirmed their support for the one day tech conference, FinTech North, which takes place during Leeds Digital Festival on 26th April 2017.

FinTech North is being hosted at aql’s data centre in Leeds and currently has in excess of 300 nationally and internationally sourced delegates registered to attend, including representatives from the region’s large corporates, financial services providers, FinTech innovators, digital, data and technology firms, academia, and advisers and investors to the FinTech sector.

WYCA’s mission is to be the driving force for delivering an outstanding economy with better connectivity and services for businesses, people and places. The LEP is responsible for working with public and private sector partners to provide support and funding to help businesses grow, attract new investment to the region and develop the skills, energy and digital infrastructure to create jobs and prosperity.

As a 2016 report by FinExtra for Leeds City Council  found, Leeds and the wider Leeds City Region have a number of inherent advantages when it comes to Fintech. These include already being home to a large number of companies playing a pioneering role in innovative Fintech arenas, including PanintelligenceContis, WorldPay and Nostrum Group, and several leading universities producing a pipeline of high quality graduates in this space.

Roger Marsh, Chair, Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership, says:

“Fintech is one of the major growth sectors for Leeds City Region. Indeed, as an existing centre of excellence for both finance (as the UK’s second centre for banking, home to over 30 national and international banks) and technology, it is primed and ready to capitalise on its FinTech environment. WYCA and the LEP are both significant public players in the region’s tech scene, helping to support and grow the local digital economy and business environment so that it can continue to serve other regions and countries.”

Richard Coates, Managing Director, Whitecap Consulting, says;

“We’re delighted to have the public support of WYCA and the LEP, who play such a central role advocating and promoting Leeds as a digital centre of excellence. They are committed to creating an environment and opportunities that will not only help the region’s FinTech firms prosper, but will also encourage more businesses and entrepreneurs to choose to locate here. Both WYCA and the LEP are critical to the region’s future growth in finance and technology sectors.”

Other organisations to have pledged their support to the FinTech North conference include: aqlComputershareBJSSFiNexusMunroe K, Vocalink, Manchester Metropolitan University and Nostrum GroupNesta’s Open Up Challenge has also been confirmed as a strategic partner.

You can read more details about FinTech North here, or alternatively register here.