A New report has stated that Northern Ireland has the opportunity to attract £25 million in foreign investment and create thousands of jobs within the Fintech sector.
New findings published by FinTechNI, the representative body of the globally renowned Fintech sector here, has stated that Northern Ireland could benefit from over £25 million in new Foreign Direct Investment, the setup of over 20 new companies and the creation of thousands of jobs in just three years.
The ambitious roadmap developed by Fintech experts at advisory firm, Deloitte, commissioned by FintechNI, is the first time such an in-depth report has been created by the industry here.
The Fintech cluster, now estimated to be worth a significant £392million per year to the NI economy, identifies factors in this success that include - geographical advantage; talent, skills and education; a supportive and collaborative community and expertise in cyber security, AI, data analytics and RegTech - positioning Northern Ireland as a leading international hub.
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The strategic roadmap states that to supercharge the Fintech sector here, several key areas need to be worked on, such as: Supporting Fintech SMEs in making greater connections with investors, FDI companies and financial services institutions; addressing barriers to skills and talent to encourage young people to get involved and take up jobs in the sector and helping to develop the funding networks for successful young Fintech companies to scale up, securing long-term funding options and identifying opportunities to attract international financial investment.
The publication of the roadmap comes soon after the HM Treasury backed Strategic Review of UK FinTech conducted earlier this year by industry expert Ron Kalifa OBE, which named Northern Ireland as one of the leading emerging clusters for Fintech in the UK. FintechNI has said that the outcome of the review presented a major opportunity for Northern Ireland to build on its burgeoning reputation.
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Alex Lee, Chair of FintechNI, the industry association which commissioned today's report said: “Northern Ireland is regarded as a world leader in the Fintech sector and often ranks highly in lists of the best places in the world to locate Fintech companies. We have shown time and again that we can attract foreign direct investment, have a strong talent pool and the right attitude towards the nurturing of fintech companies.”
Mr. Lee also added: “However, we recognise that we can't stand still and must challenge the barriers to growth and push our unique selling points to remain globally competitive. This three-year road map being published today outlines the key areas we must focus on to continue to build a collaborative community, leverage the knowledge and the expertise of the existing financial and digital sectors and connect that with business support and funding to transform the sector for the benefit of the Northern Irish economy.”
Source: Written from press release.
