Fintech Innovation in Scotland delivers growth with 8% Increase in employment
The FinTech Scotland Cluster recorded an 8% year-on-year employment growth in 2024 bringing the total number of people working in fintech to over 11,300.
The continued economic contribution by the cluster comes as Fintech Scotland reaches its seventh anniversary since formation.
This growth underlines the significant contribution fintech will make in delivering the UK Government Modern Industrial Strategy and the importance of clusters to “unleash the full potential of our cities and regions”.
The fintech cluster growth has been underpinned by increasing technology adoption and fintech partnerships with established financial firms, highlighted by the tenfold increase in the number of fintech SMEs since 2018 in Scotland.
A significant cluster development in 2024 has been Fintech Scotland’s successful implementation of the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL) which has delivered new jobs and investment to the local economy, achieving £18m investment for the region in its first year.
This has been achieved by bringing together twenty-five financial and technology institutions from across the UK to address over twenty industry challenges, attracting local and global fintech SMEs to create new products.
Nicola Anderson, CEO at FinTech Scotland said:
“Our cluster initiatives are delivering a positive economic outcome through more jobs, investment and innovative SME businesses. The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab highlights our leadership in using collaboration and technology adoption to deliver this growth and shape the future of financial services.”
Catherine Martin, Vice-Principal Corporate Services at the University of Edinburgh:
“As a founding partner of Fintech Scotland, we are proud to be an active participant in the cluster and to support its impact by leveraging our world-renowned expertise in data-driven innovation, and interdisciplinary research to address real-world challenges in finance.”
Jane Martin, Managing Director, Scottish Enterprise:
“The remarkable growth of Scotland’s fintech sector reflects the strategic efforts by the whole cluster to develop a thriving innovative environment. Scottish Enterprise has been supporting this journey by providing early-stage investment and facilitating international market access”.
Jackie Leiper, Chief Customer Officer, Lloyds Banking Group:
"There’s a real buzz around the fintech sector in Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group is thrilled to be a part of that. We’re working hard to drive more digital investment here which will help us to build new skills and capabilities and make the country a global destination for financial services tech talent.”
