Ukrainian Fintechs Are Ready to Conquer the Uk Market: The UK-Ukraine FinTech Summit summarized

The UK-Ukraine FinTech Summit took place on July 15th with the goal of connecting the governments, key FinNech visionaries, startups and leading technology companies of the two countries. The event was set to explore current challenges and opportunities in the FinTech industry, uncover game-changing technologies behind some of the most effective financial solutions and unleash new business opportunities for participants. Officials of The UK and Ukraine, leading FinTech companies and industry leaders attended the Summit.

The Summit was organized by the Embassy of Ukraine in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Sigma Software Group, one of the leading Ukrainian IT service companies.

The event started with opening remarks from Baroness Meyer, UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Kyrylo Shevchenko; Governor at the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), and Valery Krasovsky CEO & Co-Founder at Sigma Software Group, Co-Founder at Inspirium Laboratories fund, and Board Member at Sigma Software Labs Incubator.

“The UK is a great example of the successful implementation of digitization and innovation in public services; and we have thoroughly studied its in-depth experience. Nevertheless, Ukraine already has something to be proud of: the launch of a special tax and law system for IT business — Diia.City, an e-Residency project which will soon open the market of virtual assets. We are certainly on our way to doubling the share of the IT sector’s GDP in Ukraine”, — said Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.

Baroness Meyer thinks that this is a moment of high hopes and ambitions in the UK’s relations with Ukraine: “I strongly believe that this Summit will lead to practical results that mutually benefit the two countries”.

According to Mr. Shevchenko, FinTech development is one of the key priorities of the National Bank of Ukraine: “Development of innovation in the financial sector is among the twelve strategic goals that are included in the NBU strategy for 2025”.

As the Governor also told the audience, together with the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the NBU is looking for use cases for the central bank’s digital currency e-hryvnia. And in June 2021 the Ukrainian parliament adopted a new law on payment services: “The law implements provisions of the PSD2 European directive which gives a powerful impetus to the FinTech market. This will lay the groundwork for further development of innovative payment products and services”.

“Our expertise in FinTech, cooperation with Open Banking Exchange and active development of our business in Great Britain together with the mission of building new bridges between Ukraine and other global tech ecosystems led our team to organize the first UK-Ukraine FinTech Summit. It was a great honour to work on the project with the Embassy of Ukraine in the UK, TheCityUK, The London Stock Exchange, National Bank of Ukraine, Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and many other great partners,” — says Valery Krasovsky, CEO and Co-Founder of Sigma Software Group. — “We are always creating new business synergies and are ready to provide our top-notch services and access to our wide network to UK startups and product companies to help them grow and develop faster and better”.

The event proceeded with the presentation of the UK FinTech ecosystem by Nicola Watkinson, Managing Director, International Trade & Investment at TheCityUK and Julia Hoggett CEO, London Stock Exchange Plc.

Here are some striking facts worth mentioning:

Today, there are over 3,000 FinTech companies headquartered in London. More than in New York and San Francisco;