Scotland provides a successful environment for FinTech projects and companies due to its mix of top university graduates, growing tech clusters around financial services, and connections to the financial hub of London. Key advantages include access to talented graduates from top universities, lower costs than London and the southeast, and support from organizations in Scotland to help companies grow through funding, skills development, partnerships and more. Scotland aims to plug FinTech companies into all of these resources and opportunities through Scottish Development International.

1. Scotland’s FinTech Environment
A Pattern for a Successful Ecosystem

2. Scottish Development International Scotland’s FinTech Environment A Pattern for a Successful Ecosystem
2
1. Recruit some of Europe’s top graduates
• Scotland has some of the best universities in the
world – including the largest informatics school
in Europe. With thousands of talented graduates
entering the workforce each year, you have access to
some of the best, freshest minds in technology.
2. Join a growing cluster of companies in a thriving sector
• Over 1,000 technology companies from innovative
home-grown technology businesses such as MiiCard,
Agenor and Moneydashboard, to large multinationals
including HP, Amazon, CGI, Wipro and SAS
• Over 100 financial services companies with major
multinational organistions having significant
operations here such as JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley,
RBS, Bank of Scotland and HSBC.
3. The right connections helping to influence regulatory
changes
• Strong connections with global financial hub of
London such as Edinburgh and London collaboration
through Innovate Finance and the same regulatory
environment as the rest of the UK. 30 daily 1 hour
flights between Scotland and London with regular
Flights to rest of Europe, North America and the
Middle East.
SCOTLAND HAS THE PERFECT MIX FOR YOUR FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY PROJECT
4. Innovation is in our financial DNA
• Digital developments and a focus on customer
engagement is driving the sector alongside issues of
risk and compliance. Scotland offers opportunities
to collaborate between industry, public sector and
academia as well as providing funding and delivery
resources (including skills and training). Take
advantage of the latest waves in innovative technology
development with locally based partners. Examples
of these include:
• The Data Lab - thedatalab.com
• The Scottish Informatics and Computer Science
Alliance - www.sicsa.ac.uk
• The Scottish Financial Risk Academy -
www.sfra.ac.uk
5. Cost effective solution
• Scottish cities have all the pull of big global cities,
without the significant costs. Whether you need an
office space in the city centre, or a data hub on the
outskirts – you’ll find it in Scotland, without the high
costs of locating in London and the southeast.
6. Support to grow your business
• We’ll connect you to the local business community –
from top-level business leaders to potential partners
on your project. We’ll help you to find the financial,
skills and innovation support your business needs
– from grants and investment to property research.
With SDI, you’ll be supported all the way.

3. Scottish Development International Scotland’s FinTech Environment A Pattern for a Successful Ecosystem
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Content courtesy of Invest in Edinburgh
DIGITAL/ ICT CLUSTER
SCOTTISH GRADUATES
LINKS WITH LONDON
SCOTTISH DIGITAL SECTOR
£3.7BILLION
(4% GVA)
“THE INITIAL INVESTMENTS ALLOWED SAS TO SEE THE REAL SCOTTISH POTENTIAL
WITH ACCESS TO THE EXCELLENT POOL OF TALENT FROM SCOTTISH UNIVERSITIES
AND ITS STRONG CULTURE OF INNOVATION.” MIKE HAGSTRON, SAS EVP EUROPE
WORLD LEADING
UNIVERSITIES WITH
THE LARGEST
INFORMATICS SCHOOL
IN EUROPE
INNOVATION
35% OF ALL TECHNOLOGY SPIN-OUT
COMPANIES IN THE UK COME FROM
SCOTLAND’S 17 UNIVERSITIES
(WITH 12% UNI POPULATION)
FINANCE CLUSTER
NETWORKS
1000 COMPANIES EMPLOYING
80,000 TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONALS
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Artificial intelligence
Com
puter science
Econom
ics
Finance
Inform
ation
services
Inform
ation
system
s
M
athem
atical sciences
M
athem
atics
Softw
are
engineering
Statistics
(AND THE REST OF THE WORLD)
• 30 DAILY FLIGHTS TO LONDON (1 HOUR FLIGHT)
• 23 MAJOR CITIES IN EUROPE WITHIN 24 HOURS
• SEVERAL DIRECT DAILY FLIGHT TO NORTH AMERICA
SUPPORT
SDI WILL HELP YOU FIND THE FINANCIAL, SKILLS AND INNOVATION SUPPORT
YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS TO SURVIVE AND GROW
• EDINBURGH + LONDON = FINTECH COLLABORATION
• INNOVATION NETWORKS • TRADE BODIES
• 650 GLOBALSCOTS
OVER 100 COMPANIES EMPLOYING 85,000 FINANCE EXPERTS
QUALITY OF LIFE
WHETHER YOU ENJOY THE BUZZ
AND CULTURE OF A LIVELY CITY
OR SOME OF THE TRANQUILITY
OF SOME OF THE UK’S MOST
BEAUTIFUL COUNTRYSIDE,
SCOTLAND HAS SOMETHING
TO OFFER
QUALITY OF LIFE
WHETHER YOU ENJOY THE BUZZ
AND CULTURE OF A LIVELY CITY
OR SOME OF THE TRANQUILITY
OF SOME OF THE UK’S MOST
BEAUTIFUL COUNTRYSIDE,
SCOTLAND HAS SOMETHING
TO OFFER

4. Scottish Development International Scotland’s FinTech Environment A Pattern for a Successful Ecosystem
4
LET SCOTTISH DEVELOPMENT INTERNATIONAL PLUG YOU IN!
WE CAN HELP YOUR COMPANY:
SET UP IN
SCOTLAND
FIND THE RIGHT
TALENT
INNOVATE CONNECT TO NEW
COMPANIES AND
OPPORTUNITIES
COLLABORATE ACCESS FINANCIAL
SUPPORT AND
GRANTS
FIND A PROPERTY
TO SUIT YOUR
NEEDS
Contact details:
Address: Scottish Development International
5 Atlantic Quay
150 Broomielaw
Glasgow
G2 8LU
Email: investment@scotent.co.uk
Telephone: +44 (0845) 607 877
Website: www.sdi.co.uk/fintech
Twitter: @ScotDevInt
LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/1h6nEqS
“The two main reasons we selected Glagsow as the location for our new centre
were the talent pool of highly skilled professionals available in the area, and
the support we received from the Scottish Government. We are very excited
about the future for this area of our business.”
“We came to Scotland for two reasons, the first is for the financial market,
the cluster of financial companies which is important to the knowledge of our
company, the second is the computer science skills and computer science
graduates.”
“Everyone here is so friendly, she says. ‘I meet people at events and as
soon as they know I’ve just moved here they’re really keen to help out.”
“We are very excited that through the RSA scheme we are able to accelerate
the expansion of our Dunfermline development centre in Scotland.”
TEAM SCOTLAND: PARTNERS HERE TO SUPPORT YOUR BUSINESS
SE/4353/Sep15