Belfast has been ranked third overall in fDi magazine’s inaugural Fintech Location of the Future for 2019/20, preceded only by London and Singapore.
Northern Ireland’s capital fared particularly well in the magazine’s Performance category. A subsidiary of the Financial Times, fDi collected market data which found that jobs in the fintech sector of Belfast made up more than one-fifth of all FDI jobs created in the city between 2014 and 2018.
Global corporations such as Citi, Allstate and Liberty Mutual have established and expanded their operations in Belfast. InvestNI said investors benefit from the strength of technology and innovative talent in the city as well as tailored government support packages combining practical advice and financial assistance.
To create a shortlist for fDi’s Fintech Locations of the Future 2019/20, the fDi Intelligence division of the Financial Times collected data using the specialist online FDI tools – fDi Benchmark and fDi Markets as well as other sources. Data was collected for 52 locations, under five categories: Economic Potential, FDI Performance, Innovation & Attractiveness, Connectivity and Cost Effectiveness. Locations scored up to a maximum of 10 points for each data point, which were weighted by importance to the FDI decision making process in order to compile the subcategory rankings.
fDi Intelligence also named Belfast the best small city in the world for business in December 2018 and ranked it as one of the top 25 cities in the world for attracting foreign direct investment in 2016.
