Second only to the United States, the United Kingdom is a top fintech hub composed of over 1,600 firms and it’s continuing to grow — in London, especially. According to the U.K. government, financial technology took off in 2020 with over £3 billion in venture capital investments, creating new solutions for banking, lending and decentralized finance. Below, we rounded up some of the top finance, fintech and financial services companies in London to keep an eye on.
Top Finance Companies in London
- TransUnion
- Square
- Barclays
- Wise
- Revolut
Top Finance Companies in London to Know
Wise is a fintech company that enables cross-border payments. Through its platform, individuals and businesses can convert money into over 40 different currencies and schedule a transfer in under 20 seconds. Wise launched in 2011, and since then, it has released a number of products, like its Interest platform, which invests funds in government-guaranteed assets.
In addition to being a cash-back credit card, Capital One is a bank that serves businesses and individuals. Capital One Business has an array of products for businesses, including credit cards and loans and lines of credit. The company is based in McClean, Virginia. Capital One expanded to the UK in 1996 and is now one of the top credit card companies in the UK. Its UK offices are in London and Nottingham.
Block, founded by Jack Dorsey, is the parent company for fintech brands including Square; Cash App; Afterpay, a buy-now-pay-later app; Proto, which develops Bitcoin mining services; Spiral, which makes open-source projects for bitcoin. It also owns Tidal, the music streaming service. Block hires for its brands as well as its corporate team.
With an office in London, Square develops fintech solutions for all businesses. It’s a popular solution among e-commerce businesses because the platform can process payments and integrate with proprietary point-of-sale hardware. Additionally, Square develops software for restaurants to optimize their online ordering and back-of-house operations. Square is a part of Block, a fintech company founded by Jack Dorsey.
HSBC, one of the world’s biggest banks, has assets of nearly $3 trillion. The bank, based in Birmingham, England, has 14 million retail customers and employs nearly 24,000 people. Services include international trading, online banking, loans and financing, and accounts for businesses. Its London office is at 8 Canada Square, a 45-story building in Canary Wharf, London. HSBC stands for the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.
Barclays is one of the world’s largest banks, with its global headquarters in London. The company occupies a 32-story building and hires analysts, software engineers, graphics designers and others to power its services, including personal and corporate banking solutions.
Q2 offers digital transformation services for financial institutions such as banks, credit unions, fintechs and alternative finance companies. It says its products enable customers to provide data-driven solutions for small businesses, corporations and consumers. Q2 is based in Austin, Texas, and has an office in London.
Revolut is a popular banking platform that recently secured its U.K. regulatory banking license. Revolut operates similarly to a bank in many ways, but has added benefits like higher annual percent yield, or APY, rates and no account fees. Since launching in 2015, the platform has amassed over 45 million users and expanded operations to over 17 countries.
TransUnion uses a combination of analytics and financial software to provide various services across the United Kingdom and around the world. The company is most known for its credit services, which help banks and businesses assess individuals’ creditworthiness. It also offers a banking platform, which launched in the U.K. in 2019. TransUnion has an office in London and another in Leeds.
Morningstar, based in Chicago, is a fintech company that provides data- and research-driven insights on investment offerings ranging from debt securities to private capital markets. Morningstar customers include financial advisors and wealth managers and individual and institutional investors. Morningstar has a major regional office in London.
