In September 2016, the Deloitte report – Connecting Global FinTech: Hub Review 2016 – profiled 21 emerging and established ‘fintech hub cities’ around the world. Now, a new interim report updates the hubs featured in the first report and introduces an additional 24 new hubs that have since joined the Global FinTech Hubs Federation. Connecting Global Fintech: Interim Hub Review 2017.
Earlier this month, UK-incorporated multinational professional services firm Deloitte published an update to an earlier report, Connecting Global FinTech: Hub Review 2016. The newly published update – Connecting Global Fintech: Interim Hub Review 2017. The interim report was released during the opening of the Innovate Finance Global Summit that recently took place in London.
Findings detailed in the report come as the result of cooperative research that was conducted by Innovate Finance and SWIFT Innotribe – operator of Start-up Challenge, which aims to bridge the gap between the fintech start-up ecosystem and the financial community. In addition to these research efforts, a new initiative supported by Innovate Finance and Innotribe –the Global FinTech Hubs Federation (GFHF) – has been launched. The GFHF is an independent and inclusive global network of emerging and established fintech hubs that helps to foster innovation across the world’s financial services industry.
The Global Fintech: Interim Hub Review 2017 provides updates on the originally identified 21 fintech hubs from the September, 2016 report, and presents 24 new, up and coming hubs that have joined the ranks. To create these profiles, representatives from the different hubs were asked to provide a broad overview and self-assessment of their hub based on six categories, which included an index performance score for determining the ease of launching a Fintech business in the hub.
Not surprisingly, index performance scores ranked Singapore and London remained on top as the world’s best locations for establishing and growing fintech-focussed start-ups. Although the UK was the first hub to get the ball rolling and establish itself as a centre for financial innovation, Singapore has managed to quickly build a reputation for embracing disruptive finance, especially given the fact that the government has gone so far as to publicly declare the importance of fintech to its economy.
The report describes Singapore as a, ‘serious contender for the global number one spot in Fintech.’ Government support for fintech initiatives is very strong, especially considering the S$ 225 million it has committed to fintech projects and proofs of concept. According to report authors, London has the ‘fin’ of New York City, with the ‘tech’ of California’s Silicon Valley. Put simply, it combines the best of both worlds, although it remains to be seen what the effects of Brexit will be on London’s position as a leading fintech hub. Both Singapore and London received top ranking Index Scores of 11. With respect to the value global venture capital deals in 2016, China was far and away the leadet of the list at USD 7.7 billion.
Deloitte is planning to release an even more detailed report later on this year at the Sibos event. In the meantime, the freshly published – Connecting Global Fintech: Interim Hub Review 2017 – A tale of 44 cities – report can be viewed or downloaded in PDF format by clicking here.
