A global survey on trends and innovations in financial services ranked Toronto as one of the top FinTech centres in the world.
The survey, conducted at the end of 2016 by the Toronto Financial Services Alliance (TFSA) and United Kingdom think-tank Z/Yen, received responses from over 300 individuals working in financial centres worldwide.
The results of the survey were summarized in a report titled Trends and Innovations in Financial Services, which looked at several current trends and innovations in different areas of financial services such as FinTechs, and ranked how different financial centres are managing with the innovations taking place.
The survey ranked Toronto as the fifth leading FinTech centre now, and the fourth leading global FinTech centre of the future.
“Toronto is the second largest financial centre in North America, and Ontario has the second largest concentration of technology companies,” said Janet Ecker, the president and CEO of TFSA. “This unique ecosystem has created a perfect environment for a promising international FinTech hub to emerge.”
TFSA and Z/Yen’s report featured Toronto to a fair extent. The city earned recognition as the eighth most important global financial centre; the second largest financial centre in North America in terms of employment; and home to several globally-recognized accelerators and incubators, such as the DMZ, MaRS, and Communitech.
“The top four global financial centres are seen to have good potential, and Toronto in particular is seen to have significant potential,” reads the report.
Expanding the scope, the report revealed that Ontario is the second largest IT cluster in North America, just behind California. It is also home to the University of Waterloo and University of Toronto, both of which are ranked highly for their strengths in tech talent, startups and accelerator programs.
These findings come a few months after TechToronto released a report that looked at how Toronto’s tech ecosystem and made recommendations to have Toronto recognized as a global FinTech and machine learning hub.
According to the findings of TFSA and Z/Yen’s survey, the Canadian FinTech industry has in fact experienced increased attention, as venture capital financing for FinTechs increased by 74 percent in 2016, while the US and Britain have experienced significant declines, according to Thomson Reuters.
Based on the survey’s results, cybersecurity was cited as one of the significant areas of FinTech.
“We’re seeing that Ontario’s cybersecurity industry is also beginning to be recognized worldwide,” said Ecker. “Canada ranks 4th in the world as a cybersecurity hub based on the volume and number of deals.”
Access the full report here.