A new regional growth strategy has identified the opportunity to create more than 2,000 new jobs in the North East by the end of 2025.
In Brief:
The growth strategy has been developed by Whitecap Consulting with the support of key stakeholder organisations in the public sector, private sector, and higher education.
In addition to the new jobs, the Gross Value Added (GVA) created by FinTech is forecast to increase 11% per year, to reach £431m in 2025
The number of FinTech firms is expected to nearly double to 81 (currently 45).
What does this mean?
A new regional growth strategy, developed in response to a national strategic review of FinTech, has identified the opportunity to create more than 2,000 new jobs in the North East by the end of 2025, taking the size of the sector’s employment to more than 7,700 jobs.
The new strategy has been developed by Whitecap Consulting with the support of key stakeholder organisations in the public sector, private sector, and higher education. It outlines a high level plan for the region to create more and better jobs, develop a collaborative, sustainable, growth-focused FinTech hub, and to foster regional, national and international connectivity.
In addition to the new jobs, the Gross Value Added (GVA) created by FinTech is forecast to increase 11% per year, to reach £431m in 2025, and the number of FinTech firms is expected to nearly double to 81 (currently 45). The report finds 76% of the region’s FinTech firms are currently based in Newcastle, Gateshead or Sunderland, with 11% in Durham, and 9% in the Tees Valley region.
The project follows an independent national strategic review which identified the Newcastle and Durham area as one of the top ten FinTech clusters in the UK. The Review of UK FinTech, published in February 2021, showed the fast-growing sector generates £11bn of GVA for the UK each year. The work has been supported by key regional stakeholders including Atom bank, Dynamo North East, FinTech North, Invest Newcastle, Invest North East England, Newcastle Strategic Solutions, Newcastle University, North East ROCU (North East Regional Organised Crime Unit), North of Tyne Combined Authority, North Tyneside Council, Northumbria University, and Sage. The strategy was launched at an event in Newcastle on 19th October, hosted by Womble Bond Dickinson.
FinTech, the use of technology to enhance the delivery of financial services, is a growth industry in the wider North East region that has been driven by substantial levels of investment and employment. This investment has paid dividends, with a 58% increase in the number of firms operating in the FinTech sector over the last 3 years, including an 81% increase in the number of FinTech startups and scaleups, nearly a third of which are organisations that have chosen to expand their operations into the North East.
Sir Ron Kalifa, author of the Kalifa Review, says:
“I am delighted to see the publication of a FinTech growth strategy for the North East. In developing this 3 year strategy, the group of regional stakeholders that have worked with the Whitecap team have collectively delivered against a key objective that was laid out in my Review last year. I hope the new strategy will generate opportunities, secure investment and can help create jobs that will help the FinTech sector and economic prosperity of the region and the UK.”
