Skills gap poses risks to UK’s fintech leadership – Ron Kalifa

The author of an influential report into the UK’s financial technology firms has said that the UK has a lack of technology and data skills and will need to work to maintain a leading position in the sector.

Ron Kalifa, an entrepreneur who penned a report for the Government on the sector, said that the UK is in front in the so-called fintech space.

“When you think about the UK we don’t tend to have global leadership in many things,” he said.

“This is something we do have global leadership in. We’ve got a 10% global market share,

“The amount of money that has been invested in the UK is enormous. It’s much more so than any other European country.”

Speaking at an industry event hosted by marketing services agency VC Innovations, he warned that some skills are missing to continue the evolution.

“There’s a gap in the UK in terms of the capabilities that are inherent within the UK ecosystem.”

He added: “If you look at a global league table of business skills, technology skills, data skills.

“We’re not at the top of the league table. Let’s put it that way around. We’re quite a long way down.”

He said: “If we don’t address this for ourselves, we’re going to have a problem in five to 10 years’ time and we’re not going to be able to compete on a global stage.”

He called for higher education institutions to work more closely with companies to find out what skills are needed for the workplace.

Mr Kalifa said that the Government has taken several steps to act on the recommendations he gave in his review of the fintech sector.

“Overall I’m delighted with where the programme has got to in terms of the review and the recommendations,” he said.