Mapping the UK Fintech Market

2016 promises to be an exciting year for the UK Fintech market which is worth £20bn to the economy. Spurred on by the UK Government’s vision to make London the epicentre for global finance and a ceaseless appetite from venture capitalists, Fintech is expanding its reach beyond payments, lending, crowdfunding and money transfers.

On a global scale, Fintech financing has risen seven-fold since 2013 to reach around $20bn in 2015, a rise of 66% from 2014, but it is in the UK that we can witness a real revolution. The UK Fintech sector will be one of three sectors predicted by the CBI to be worth a combined £300bn by 2020. The huge increase reflects a shifting sentiment among investors, who are now choosing to spread their technology investments beyond Silicon Valley.

As the digital revolution continues to drive change through global industries, the UK proves to be an even stronger hub than it was a year ago, receiving a record £2.48bn in venture capital funding. The significance of the investment is reflected in the growth of startups, their contribution to the economy and the impact on the jobs market, which for employment in UK based digital companies is expected to increase by 5.4% by 2020 (higher than the forecasted total UK job growth).

Fintech Sector Spread

GoCardless, Property Partner, Crowdcube, WorldPay… globally there are thousands of Fintech companies operating across a variety of sub-sectors. With 2.5 billion people currently estimated to use alternative banking and financial systems, Fintechs are undeniably making a huge impact on the global economy. Some of the sub-sectors gaining most traction include:

• Insurance Tech: 2015 saw investment of over $2.6bn to insurance tech startups globally. Some industry experts say that more than 1,500 Fintech companies are targeting the insurance industry in 2016.
• Cybersecurity: A growing threat from cyber attacks has seen investment has grow from $1.1bn to $3.8bn, which is 235% growth over 5 years.
• P2P Lending: from 2013 to 2015, P2P lending in the UK doubled to more than £2.1bn. The number of borrowers also rose by 90% and lenders by a third.
• Mobile Payments: for the first time, in January 2016, over a third (34%) of global online transactions are now done on mobile devices, with the UK leading the way with a record 49%.

2016 offers great opportunities for recruitment businesses to play a pivotal role in Fintech market growth. Sonovate has mapped this rapidly expanding market to highlight everything you need to know about Fintech recruitment: the key players, new entrants and rising stars.