New delivery body to make UK a global financial innovation leader launches in Leeds - with two key pledges for city

CFIT has been backed with £5m of Government start-up funding and a further £500,000 from the City of London Corporation after the 2021 Kalifa Review of UK Fintech said the body was needed to unblock barriers to growth for financial technology and position the UK as a global leader in financial innovation.

The Kalifa Review highlighted the Pennines area of Manchester and Leeds as a key ‘cluster’ for fintech firms with 135 companies based in the region – the largest outside London. Fintech firms involved in technologies such as mobile banking are already worth £710m to the West Yorkshire economy and support around 8,000 jobs.

While CFIT will be a ‘virtual organisation’ with no formal headquarters, chair Charlotte Crosswell said she wanted the launch event in Leeds to highlight both the existing exciting work going on in the city and CFIT’s focus on helping to grow regional success around the country. “I wanted to use the launch event as a way to shine a spotlight on another city in the UK that is actually doing a huge amount of financial innovation but may not necessarily be thought of outside of the Pennines. Having the launch event here accelerates the knowledge of that. This is a great city and has a huge amount going on.”

CFIT will bring together ‘coalitions’ of experts from finance, technology, academia and policy-making to identify and remove barriers to sector growth, support the creation of jobs and enable firms to achieve global scale. Areas of focus for the first two coalitions are to be chosen in the near future.

Leeds will be among the places to establish a financial innovation hub, which will have the aim of enabling cross-sector experts with a local focus to input on barriers to growth and ensure solutions which benefit not just locations but the whole of the UK.

CFIT will also bolster existing industry work to give students the opportunity to participate in placements at the UK’s leading companies operating in the financial innovation sector.

Ms Crosswell, former CEO of Innovate Finance and Chair of Open Banking, said “bringing the next generation of talent in” is a key area of focus.

"The talent gap is the biggest issue for any big tech firm around the world. It is not just fintech in the UK, it is Facebook in the West Coast, it is the people in Brazil, it is the ones in South Africa. It is a global race for talent. If you go and ask any teenage girl would you like to come in work in fintech they think it is techy and boring. We want to explain what the range of roles are in fintech.

“It is about demystifying and saying look at the types of role there are within this. I’m not a coder, I did French at university. But what can do is make a difference – it can be public affairs, it may be comms, it may be stakeholder management, it might be international relations.

"If you look at what the sector does, it is incredible the range of roles there are. It is not just middle-aged white men which people associate with banking, even though that is not the case now anyway. It is younger, it is diverse, it is regional and that is what these fintech firms are looking for.”

She added: "We want to be action oriented. I’m doing this to make a difference and look back in 12 months time and say actually as a result of CFIT launching we have done this, this is working better and bringing results. When we are here, we want to make things are moving forward.”

At the launch a senior Government promiosed CFIT will be a “centre of excellence for fintech in the UK”.

Andrew Griffith, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, told the launch event: “UK fintech is genuinely one of our world-leading sectors. Almost 90 per cent of UK Brits now use on fintech service to manage their money or make payments.

"You can’t realise the benefits of innovation by dining out on past glories. That is why we are acting today to build on our strengths. Fintech is central to our vision for the future of the UK financial services sector.

"CFIT is not a thinktank or a talking shop, it is a centre for action coming up with data, ideas and solutions we can scale together to unlock growth.”

Councillor James Lewis, Leader of Leeds City Council, said: “Leeds City Region is a powerhouse of financial innovation, combining centuries-old heritage in banking and professional services with world-class talent and seven world-leading universities.

“With the launch of CFIT today, the stage is set for our region to continue its ascent as a fintech hub, driving growth and prosperity for businesses and consumers in Leeds and beyond.”

Henri Murrison, Chief Executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “A thriving fintech sector in the North means more high-paid jobs and increased productivity.”