IFGS 2023: The future looks bright for the UK fintech sector

IFGS brings together the government, the tech sector and everyone who want to do better for customers—here’s our final article from the two-day event

More than 1,500 people attended the Innovate Finance Global Summit (IFGS) 2023 earlier this week. 

The event, organised by Innovate Finance, also featured 60+ exhibitors. 

Attendees heard from the economic secretary to the UK Treasury, the Bank of England and executives from Monzo, Starling and Zopa. 

Janine Hirt, chief executive officer of Innovate Finance, kicked off the two-day conference with a rousing speech. 

Hirt said that the success of the fintech sector is cause for celebration and laid out plans for what needs to be done to keep the UK as the place that fintechs go to launch and scale their businesses. 

On day two, a fantastic new tool for mapping the global footprint of UK fintech companies was launched. 

Built by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance in collaboration with Innovate Finance, the free-to-access digital mapping tool provides an indicative and interactive visualisation to showcase the scope and strength of the UK fintech sector’s global connectivity and expansion. 

It arms fintech founders and chief executive officers with insight into markets they are looking to expand into and, crucially, identifies barriers before those plans are executed. 

At the close of the conference, Lou Smith, chair of Innovate Finance, urged the crowd to get behind the UK fintech sector and work together so everyone can move forward.  

Smith said: “This event brings together the government, the tech sector and everyone who want to do better for customers.”  

IFGS 2023 will be back next year on 15 and 16 April for its 10th anniversary. 

Image: © Cybjorg via Canva

Josh Poyser Josh Poyser is an editor at FinTech Intel. He has written about fintech for several years and appeared at FinTech Connect 2023 on the 'Unlocking Success: The Art of Fintech PR' panel.