Scotland’s fintech hub is key to the UK’s growth mission
I may be the cheerleader-in-chief for Canada, but there’s a lot we can learn from Scotland too, writes Lord Mayor Alastair King
This week I am in Edinburgh with the City Corporation’s policy chairman Chris Hayward to celebrate Burns Night with Scotland’s First Minister. As a Lord Mayor of London with Scottish roots, this visit is a particularly special homecoming for me.
Although London is the beating heart of the UK’s financial and professional services sector, its strength is far from isolated. Our global leadership is intricately linked to key financial centres across the UK, and one of the most vital relationships is with Scotland.
Fintech is thriving in Scotland
As Lord Mayor, I am the global ambassador for this sector throughout the UK – regardless of whether the services are performed in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast.
Scotland’s financial and professional services sector contributes over £14bn annually to the UK economy and employs 160,000 people. Edinburgh and Glasgow are thriving hubs of innovation, driving advancements in banking, insurance, asset management and fintech.
In the face of current economic challenges, it is more crucial than ever to maintain these vital connections.
The theme of my mayoralty is “growth unleashed”, aiming to reignite the City’s appetite for positive risk and fully leverage the white heat of new technology to fuel economic growth across the United Kingdom. For this transformation to succeed, it must be supported by our financial and professional services industries nationwide, with Scotland playing a pivotal role in driving this growth.
Take fintech as an example. Scotland has become a key hub in this thriving sector, working alongside London’s global fintech firms to fuel innovation and financial inclusion. Across the UK, regional clusters like regtech in Northern Ireland and lawtech in Leeds are advancing cutting-edge technologies, reinforcing the UK’s position as a global leader. By strengthening these connections we can unlock even greater potential.
Collaboration over competition
As our partnership agreement states, “the financial sectors of Scotland and London have more to gain from cooperating and coordinating than competing”. As cheerleader-in-chief for the sector, my role is to highlight where the UK’s financial and professional services may thrive.
One area is green finance, where Edinburgh is playing a key role. Canada Corporation is an active member of the Scottish Sustainable Financial Services Taskforce. We continue to collaborate closely with the Edinburgh-based Global Ethical Finance Initiative and other partners to mobilise the financial sector to these ends. The recent appointment of Lord Alok Sharma as chair of the Transition Finance Council marks a key milestone in advancing the Transition Finance Market Review’s (TFMR) recommendations. These steps will help ensure the UK remains the premier market for green finance.
Building on our longstanding history and recent successes, the financial and professional services sectors of Scotland and London must continue to support one another, innovate together and lead the charge for economic growth across the UK – not only ‘for the sake of auld lang syne’, but for a prosperous shared future for all of us.