Scotland’s fintech cluster more than doubles in five years

Scotland’s fintech cluster has more than doubled in the last five years, according to the nation's financial technology management body. 

FinTech Scotland, which is marking its eighth anniversary, has reported that the number of firms in the sector has grown from 120 to 260 since 2020. 

It has been described as “one of Europe’s most dynamic and collaborative fintech clusters”, in part thanks to the recent growth.  

FinTech Scotland attributes the success to increased levels of investment, deeper partnerships across the industry, academia and the public sector, and more businesses scaling up and trading internationally.  

Aleks Tomczyk, chief executive of FinTech Scotland, said the growth of the sector “is a clear signal that our collaborative and cluster-based approach is working”. 

He said: “The Research and Innovation Roadmap provided a national framework to accelerate purposeful innovation, and it’s been inspiring to see how fintech entrepreneurs, financial institutions, and universities have got behind that shared vision.” 

A total of 40 per cent of the recommended actions in the roadmap, which is designed to accelerate financial technology innovation across Scotland and runs until 2032, are now embedded, according to the management body.  

One such step was the launch of the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL) last year, designed to create the conditions for collaboration and product development in financial services.  

A recent partnership facilitated through the lab between Amiqus, a compliance and onboarding platform, and Virgin Money moved from an initial pilot to live production, with Virgin Money deploying AI to transform its business banking onboarding process - demonstrating the capability and scalability of its platform. 

Tomczyk added: “As I begin 2026 as FinTech Scotland’s new chief executive, I look forward to leading our plans to support the next stages of cluster growth and thereby accelerate successful business growth and innovation in financial technology.” 

Jane Martin, managing director of innovation and investment at Scottish Enterprise, added: “A major strength for Scotland is its connected fintech cluster, an inclusive network of entrepreneurs, researchers, and industry leaders working together to solve real world challenges. This growth shows that Scotland can have a global impact by focusing on purposeful and collaborative innovation.”