Although the UK has been successful in growing its fintech reputation one year after the publication of the Kalifa Review, industry experts have been pushing the government to do even more to ensure that the industry keeps its status as a leading fintech hub.

Our new episode of FInsight: Global Financial Institutions Industry Podcast takes a look at the hot topics and developments that will be covered in this year’s UK Fintech Week. The speakers from this episode are London partners Sue McLean, co-chair of our UK Fintech practice and EMEA Financial Institutions industry group; Mark Simpson from our Financial Services Regulatory group and co-chair of our UK Fintech practice and; David Hart from our Corporate group and our TMT industry group.

Key highlights of the episode include:

  • The UK currently ranks first in Europe and second (behind the United States) globally in terms of fintech investments. Venture capitalists and private equity funds are the biggest investors – reflective of the general investment trend focused on fintech and other technology-related companies.
  • There has been a lot of activity in all sub-sectors – payments, challenger banks, lending, and others. Larger players are also integrating elements initially offered by fintech players in response to consumer behavior.
  • Policymakers are keen to ensure that London remains a global fintech leader post-Brexit. The environment may become more restrictive but this has not happened yet, and many fintech players continue to make long-term commitments to London, including those whose founders may be from the European Union or elsewhere overseas. 
  • Fintech players need to monitor the evolving regulatory landscape closely. The main regulatory developments to focus on include: (1) proposed introduction of a new Consumer Duty, (2) buy-now-pay-later services possibly coming into the regulatory perimeter, and; (3) regulation of cryptoassets.

You can also read our client alert – Financial Institutions and Fintechs: The UK Regulatory Top Ten Watch List for 2022. In this report, we take a close look at the developments that financial institutions and fintech players need to watch out for throughout 2022.

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