More than 11,300 people now have fintech roles in Scotland, an 8% increase year on year.
Fintech Scotland said this has been led by increasing technology adoption and fintech partnerships with established financial firms and there’d been a tenfold increase in the number of Scottish fintech SMEs since 2018.
“The remarkable growth of Scotland’s fintech sector reflects the strategic efforts by the whole cluster to develop a thriving innovative environment,” said Jane Martin, Managing Director, Scottish Enterprise.
“Scottish Enterprise has been supporting this journey by providing early-stage investment and facilitating international market access”.
In 2024, Fintech Scotland launched 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.
It brought together 25 finance and technology institutions from across the UK to address over 20 industry challenges, attracting local and global fintech SMEs to create new products.
“Our cluster initiatives are delivering a positive economic outcome through more jobs, investment and innovative SME businesses,” said Nicola Anderson, CEO at FinTech Scotland.
“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.”
Jackie Leiper, Chief Customer Officer, Lloyds Banking Group added:
“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.”
