London had gained a reputation for being the financial hub of Europe. The capital of United Kingdom has been in the forefront of Fintech innovation, thanks to various initiatives in the past. But with Brexit, things are slowly falling apart. By moving away from the European Union, London has lost the charm of being the gateway to Europe for many companies.
As the country becomes less attractive each day, other European nations are trying to replace it as the next fintech hub. In order to compensate for the attrition, Innovate Finance — an association of fintech companies including those involved in the development of blockchain solutions is reaching out to other countries outside the European Union. According to a recent post by Innovate Finance, the membership-based fintech association is making a push into the Middle East.
Innovate Finance will be working alongside the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to promote fintech in their respective countries. According to the report, both the countries will be receiving their own fintech centers working in collaboration with those in London and the United Kingdom.
“Whilst Bahrain continues to improve on a number of international measures it is clear that Fintech presents a sizeable opportunity to modernize, internationalize and democratize financial services in the region,” said Lawrence Wintermeyer, the CEO of Innovate Finance. “London has emerged as the world’s leading global Fintech hub and so there is an opportunity to learn from London and the UK’s approach to the development of Fintech that may offer other hubs, such as Bahrain, learning on its journey to attract the talent and capital to grow its own Fintech ecosystem,” he added.
Bahrain is already known for being a financial hub when it comes to Islamic Finance, whereas UAE has been leading the pack by making significant progress in blockchain technology. The financial industry and even the government in Dubai are heavily invested in distributed ledger technology based solutions.
The collaboration may turn out to be fruitful, not just for London but to the Middle Eastern economy as well.
Ref: Innovate Finance