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PRIVACY
Tech

Northern Ireland fin tech sector could draw £25M investment and create 'thousands' of jobs in next 3 years

Industry body FinTechNI has laid out a roadmap for the future of the sector

Pictured, from left, are: Andrew Jenkins, FinTech NI and HMT Appointed FinTech Envoy for NI; Karen Bradbury, Sector Lead for Financial and Professional Services at Invest NI; Roisin Finnegan, NI FinTech Lead at Deloitte and Alex Lee, Chairman of FinTech NI.

The Northern Ireland financial technology sector could draw £25 million in foreign direct investment to Northern Ireland in the next three years, creating “thousands” of jobs, according to a new industry report.

In laying out a roadmap for the future, the report said the fin tech sector in the province is now worth £392 million a year – which has grown substantially in the last few years – and could see that expansion accelerated if a number of impediments were addressed.

Commissioned by FinTechNI and compiled by Deloitte, the report said small and medium-sized companies need help to make better with investors, foreign direct investor companies and financial services institutions and assistance in encouraging young people to acquire the skills to work in the industry.

It also said the sector needs to develop the funding networks for successful young fintech companies to scale up, securing long-term funding options and identifying opportunities to attract international financial investment.

If those issues were addressed, FinTechNI said the sector could draw £25 million in foreign direct investment from 20 companies.

“Northern Ireland is regarded as a world leader in the Fintech sector and often ranks highly in lists of the best places in the world to locate Fintech companies,” Alex Lee, Chair of FintechNI, said. “We have shown time and again that we can attract foreign direct investment, have a strong talent pool and the right attitude towards the nurturing of fintech companies.”

“However, we recognise that we can't stand still and must challenge the barriers to growth and push our unique selling points to remain globally competitive. This three-year road map being published today outlines the key areas we must focus on to continue to build a collaborative community, leverage the knowledge and the expertise the existing financial and digital sectors and connect that with business support and funding to transform the sector for the benefit of the Northern Irish economy.”

“The potential to create thousands of jobs, attract tens of millions of pounds in foreign direct investment and to assist companies to set up, or scale up, in Northern Ireland is right in front of us and we should not limit our ambition for a sector that has shown such resilience and growth in difficult times.”