New report finds FinTech is adding £5 billion per year to the North of England’s economy
FinTech North is delighted to share Whitecap Consulting’s new North of England FinTech Report 2025, which estimates the growing FinTech sector in the North of England is now adding £5 billion per year to the regional economy, set to rise to £6 billion by 2030.
The new report, launched at our event in Manchester this week, finds the North to have close to 400 FinTech firms employing nearly 20,000 people, generating £1.5 billion of Gross Value Added (GVA) to the northern economy. It estimates the total FinTech workforce of the region to be almost 70,000 people, when FinTech roles within the financial and tech sector firms are included.
Home to 15 million people – more than 20% of the UK’s population – with an 8 million strong workforce generating £344 billion in GVA, the North of England has long been recognised as an important economic region. It is also home to 42 universities and approximately 100 further and higher education colleges, with a combined 1.35 million students.
In addition to laying out a series of recommendations for key stakeholders across the public, private and education sectors, the report identifies five ‘big ideas’ that could significantly accelerate the growth of the sector and increase its national and international significance. These include proposing pan-northern initiatives including a FinTech Accelerator, FinTech Investment Fund, FinTech Innovation Challenge, FinTech Placements Programme, and Financial Services Reskilling Programme.
Janine Hirt, CEO of Innovate Finance, comments:
“The UK is an international leader in financial innovation, holding a 10% share of the global FinTech market. In 2024, UK FinTech attracted $3.6 billion in investment, maintaining its position as the second-largest FinTech investment market globally, and remaining Europe’s top destination by a considerable margin.
“A defining characteristic of this FinTech strength is the breadth and depth of our regional ecosystems, and across the country, high-growth firms are driving innovation, creating jobs, and delivering real-world impact. This report provides a comprehensive view of the ecosystem across the entirety of the North of England offering fresh insights, updated statistics, and a timely reflection of a region that is evolving rapidly and contributing significantly to national growth.”
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. The ambition of a £6bn GVA contribution by 2030 is just the start, with more to follow in the decades to follow it.”
The report defines a FinTech firm as an organisation whose primary business model is the application of technology to deliver financial products or services, and analyses the distribution of these firms across the three main regions of the North, finding 58% of FinTech firms are based in the North West, 30% in Yorkshire & Humber, and 12% in the North East. Data is also presented across the Combined Authority regions of the North, confirming that the four main clusters are found in Greater Manchester (175 FinTech firms), West Yorkshire (94), Liverpool City Region (44), and the North East (44).
Additionally, the FinTech sector in the North is broken down into granular detail, with Payments, Banking, Lending and WealthTech found to be the most prominent sub-sectors. The average age of FinTech firm is approaching 13 years, with founders averaging 37 years old when they created the business. A lack of diversity of founders is identified, with only 6% of founders being female, although a more encouraging datapoint is that 38% of directors of FinTech firms are female.
Katherine Megson, Head of Innovation & Growth, Bruntwood SciTech, said:
“This new report provides clear evidence that the North of England has emerged as a significant powerhouse in the UK’s financial technology landscape, with Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Liverpool establishing themselves as key centres for FinTech innovation and growth. Bruntwood SciTech is committed to supporting this dynamic ecosystem across the North of England. This is why we are delighted to sponsor and be part of this first North of England FinTech report.”
The report is the output of a project over recent months, including a programme of data analysis and research, and a series of regional discussion groups across Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Newcastle. This collaborative project 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 (Manchester’s Inward Investment Agency), Mastercard, NatWest Group, Northern Powerhouse Partnership, North East Combined Authority, PEXA, Pulsant, RSM, West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
The new report builds on previous reports published by Whitecap, which analysed the FinTech ecosystems in the North East, Leeds City Region, Greater Manchester, and Liverpool City Region.
To read the Northern FinTech Report 2025 in full, click the link here.
