Don't run off to Silicon Valley, fintech is happening
right here in Scotland
When I first spoke to my current employer back in 2018, the
physical location of my potential future workplace was not
discussed. Instead, I became the first "recruit" in Scotland,
unintentionally beginning the creation of a Glasgow office for a
global fintech firm.
In the past, pandemics have increased inequalities between
regions, but this need not be the case now. Even before the
Covid-19 pandemic, the technological geography of the United
Kingdom, and indeed the world, was being re-drawn and fintech
offers a way of continuing to "level up".
Enforced remote working has been both a challenge and an
opportunity - it pressures firms into thinking innovatively whilst
removing some of the stigmas around "working from home" that have
historically reinforced office culture. Fintechs were able to
support finance organisations who needed to quickly enact
change.
Collaboration is key for success in fintech. The very nature of
our business is merging the world of finance with the world of
technology and solving challenges that cut across both.
Scotland is somewhere a variety of backgrounds, skills and
expertise can be found in abundance. When asked to name a global
fintech city, Glasgow may not be the first that comes to mind -
this is something that I hope will change, as there is such huge
potential for cities across the UK to mirror their European cousins
such as Lyon or Dresden or even American ones like Dallas, which
all have great high-tech industries.
Global cities like Glasgow or Edinburgh can mitigate the
influence of cultural, administrative and economic differences by
providing sophisticated communication, education and transportation
infrastructure, as well as the cosmopolitan values that attract and
retain talent. These are the same factors that make it so easy to
move people and services between mature global hubs such as London,
New York, and Singapore.
The potential for more local hubs of enterprise, which embrace
cultural, commercial and residential mixed use, is becoming a
reality. Scottish workers may have previously faced a stark choice
between a career in London or abroad, and wanting to be more
connected with their local community. That's no longer the
case.
Recently, on a webinar hosted by Fintech Scotland, industry
leader Ron Kalifa presented the findings of his independent
Fintech Strategic Review for the UK. I had the pleasure of
representing a Scotland-based fintech with a global footprint and
to share my thoughts on the local scene.
One of the key recommendations of the Kalifa review was the
creation of a Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology to act
as an incubator for the next wave of fintechs (or techfins!) In
this light, Ron has been reassured by the excellent work that
Fintech Scotland are doing to ensure that Scotland secures a place
as a leading fintech centre. "Levelling up" requires all regions of
the UK to work together because innovation does not happen in a
vacuum. Scotland has so much to offer for the whole of the UK and
the numbers speak for themselves: as of February 2021, there were
158 fintech firms in Scotland, with 11 newcomers since December
2020. These firms are increasingly international with 25%,
including our own, having an international HQ.
For some, Caledonia may be a mythical land of unicorns, but
let's be clear…Modern Scotland is innovative, dynamic,
entrepreneurial and certainly has the potential to produce a very
real tech unicorn of its own.
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