According to the Fintech Global Vision report, the European countries with the most active fintech companies are the United Kingdom (2,439), Germany (978) and Spain (977)., Developed by Finovating. The leading country in the world is currently the United States (5,730), followed by India (1,512) and Canada (1,376).
A fintech is a company that provides financial services through the use of digital media and technology. Some of the most famous in Spain Paying Moneyman, Finnijns, BN-XT, Fintonic, Returnly, Ravenpack, Bagru and Hold, others,
According to this Finovating study, Europe is the world’s regional block with the most active companies in this sector. Notably, 10,549 companies are dedicated to this business. With 7,992 companies, Asia (4,913 or 17% of the total), LATAM (4,370 or 16% of the total) and Africa (819) have a higher figure than North America and Oceania.
The case of Spain has particularly caught their attention as the sector’s growth rate has accelerated in the past year: in 2022, 70 new companies were created in the fintech ecosystem
Finovating also highlights that Spain is already entering Top 10 out of 20 countries that represent 50% of the fintech sector on the planet.
The pandemic accelerated all these processes in the world. and increasing use of mobile payments, online banking, B2B, e-commerce, payment gateways lending embedded finance (integrated loan that allows you to bypass a third party within the financial industry), cryptocurrencies and blockchain have also had a very clear expression in Spain in recent years.
Fintech Global Vision calculates these companies maturity index which specifies the number of fintechs per million inhabitants in a country. And in this aspect, Spain still has a lot to do. There are only 21 companies per million residents, So it has been pushed out of the world leadership. Currently, the most mature ecosystems are in Estonia, Singapore and Switzerland.,
The European Fintech Ecosystem Has Been Reconfigured
Think tank Funcas recently suggested that a restructuring of the European fintech ecosystem is taking place.
“The stagnation of the UK fintech industry, coupled with the rise of other European industries including Spain, could point to a definite reorientation,” Funkas concluded.
68% of the 977 active companies in Spain have their headquarters in the country. This figure suggests that the majority of the ecosystem will be made up of Spanish companies. In 2022, the payments, lending, integrated finance, and blockchain sectors are expected to experience the highest growth in the region.
«This development in Spain is in contrast to the relative stagnation that is beginning to be observed in the British case. Traditionally, London has been a hotbed of fintech, along with San Francisco. Many of the biggest fintechs, some already unicorns, are based in the UK. However, less growth has been observed in recent years. Some members of the industry point out that fintech currently has low levels of demand, liquidity and valuation in the United Kingdom, according to the Financial Times,” says the think tank.
Fintech funding in the UK is down between 30% and 40%
Furthermore, British fintechs could lose between 30% and 40% of the funding they have received in recent years. In fact, one of the companies with the largest potential, Arm, chose New York instead of London to go public.
In this context, the analysts at Funcas underline, the British fintech sector has begun to request more institutional support so that the United Kingdom can maintain its position as a great global fintech hub.
“Island fintechs are calling for more radical reforms to support their growth, such as pressuring pension funds to invest a portion of their funds. Spanish fintechs along with other European countries such as Germany, Estonia and Switzerland The growth of the sector and the low growth of the industry in the United Kingdom point to a certain restructuring of the panorama.
In Spain, according to the ranking prepared by Financier, the 10 best fintechs today are Finizens, Inbestme, Finanbest, DeGiro, Moneyman, Prestalo, Crezu, Vivas, Casa de Creditito and Cofidis.
AEFI highlights progress in Open Banking
The Spanish Fintech Association (AEFI) organized the Fintech Forward Summit in Malaga on 18 April with the aim of building a fair, collaborative, transparent ecosystem that protects the end user, innovation and technological development for fintech players promotes. the entire financial industry.
AEFI President Arturo Gonzalez McDowell has promoted regulation as a vehicle that facilitates financial innovation as well as a secure, reliable and scalable industry.
Spain needs “strong and powerful regulation that protects both users and companies, so it is necessary to continue working on the implementation of relevant and important laws for the ecosystem, such as the recent law on startups or on the transformation of the financial sector.” Law”, he pointed out.
One of the roundtables at the meeting was dedicated to OpenBanking and discussed how this reality is helping build bridges and create opportunities for collaboration and exploring synergies throughout the fintech ecosystem.
AEFI’s president stressed there that the progress of OpenBanking in Europe has much to do with working groups in the EU’s highest bodies that produce results by consensus with representatives of the financial industry of member states.
