The North of England’s fintech sector now generates £5.1billion a year and supports a 70,000-strong workforce, but a new report warns that its potential is being held back by uneven support, patchy investment and a lack of diversity.
The study, published by Whitecap Consulting – a regional strategy consultancy specialising in financial services and innovation) – sets out five key proposals to accelerate growth, including a pan-regional fintech accelerator, a dedicated investment fund, a Northern-wide skills reskilling programme, structured student placements and a sector-wide innovation challenge to unite startups with established players.
Strength in numbers
The North is home to nearly 400 fintech firms, representing 12 per cent of the UK’s fintech ecosystem. The sector has continued to grow in recent years despite a challenging macroeconomic climate, with strength particularly evident in areas such as payments (36 per cent), lending, banking and wealthtech.
The region’s fintech ecosystem is supported by a strong foundation in education and talent. With 42 universities, around 750,000 students (60 per cent of them in STEM subjects), and deep-rooted expertise in both financial services and technology, the North is well positioned to develop and attract the skills needed to support further fintech growth.
Urban hubs continue to lead the way, with Greater Manchester hosting 175 fintech firms, and West Yorkshire, centred around Leeds, home to 94. Smaller but significant clusters are also found in the Liverpool City Region and the North East, each with 44 firms. The report notes that most Northern fintechs are mature, primarily B2B-facing businesses, with an average company age approaching 13 years.
Henri Murison, CEO of The Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “The North of England has a proud history of strength in financial services, with large and productive clusters in financial services in places including Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and West Yorkshire supported by clusters in the legal and accounting sectors were highlighted in our recent research with Durham University Business School.
“The opportunity fintech represents to help the traditional sectors it straddles to achieve even higher productivity, and employ more relative to the wider areas of the country beyond London, is critical.”
Room for improvement
The Whitecap report, developed in partnership with FinTech North and a cross-sector group of stakeholders, builds on previous regional studies and is the first to provide a consolidated view of the North of England’s fintech ecosystem.
Based on data analysis and local engagement across Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Newcastle, the report suggests that much of the region’s success to date has been ‘largely organic’, and that coordinated action is now needed to deliver further growth.
Whitecap’s analysis points to several areas where the region is falling short — most notably around founder diversity and early-stage support. Just four per cent of fintechs in the North have a female founder, and although 38 per cent have a female director, that figure remains just shy of the FCA’s recommended 40 per cent board-level representation.
Even so, the North compares favourably to national benchmarks: research by Innovate Finance and EY last year found that the UK’s top 50 fintechs averaged just 22 per cent female board representation.
The report also highlights ongoing challenges in connecting education with industry, and calls for clearer routes into fintech for students and mid-career professionals. While the region has a strong talent base, stakeholders say it risks being underused without better signposting, placements, and retraining programmes.
A call for joined-up growth
The report’s five headline recommendations aim to catalyse pan-regional collaboration and address structural weaknesses. These include a Northern fintech accelerator to support startups, a dedicated investment fund to improve access to capital, and a reskilling programme to redeploy talent from traditional financial services into fintech roles.
The report also calls for structured student placements to strengthen graduate pathways into the sector, and a ‘Fintech Innovation Challenge’ to help startups solve real-world problems in partnership with larger financial institutions.
Whitecap suggests that with targeted support, the North could increase its fintech GVA contribution to £6billion by 2030 but warns that without action, growth may plateau.
Voices from the industry
Several contributors to the report point to the need for better collaboration, clearer career pathways and a more joined-up approach to education and talent.
“If we are to realise the full potential of the sector then it is critical that we embrace the collective capabilities of all parts of the UK,” commented Chris Sier, chair, CEO, ClearGlass and chair of FinTech North.
“There needs to be more information around fintech careers and the routes into fintechs available to students,” said Kate Roberts, managing partner at DTM Legal. “We also need to focus on encouraging the industry to educate the educators, so they have the knowledge and tools to equip students with the skills they need.”
“There are a lot of fintech strengths in the North, with different cities attracting certain businesses,” said Jeff Poole, managing director of Carki and Nivra. “If you’re in motor finance platforms or payments, you go to Manchester. If you’re in wealthtech, you go to Liverpool – and consumer credit, Chester. We need to leverage those regional strengths for the benefit of the whole North.”
What’s next?
The work for the report has been conducted in partnership with regional and national organisations including Aviva, Bruntwood SciTech, FCamara, FinTech North, Innovate Finance, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, MIDAS, Mastercard, NatWest Group, Northern Powerhouse Partnership, North East Combined Authority, PEXA, Pulsant, RSM and West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
Report author and director & fintech lead at Whitecap Consulting, Julian Wells, said: “Whitecap has been analysing regional fintech ecosystems in the North of England since 2018 and since this time every analysis we have conducted has shown a growth in the number of fintech firms and workers, despite the challenges of Covid, wars, and significant economic downturns which have impacted the availability of funding.
“This highlights not only the resilience of the sector, but also its importance to the financial sector and the economy in general. Fintech can drive economic prosperity and improve quality of life across the region, and this report aims to serve as a catalyst.”
