FinTech Wales convened a roundtable with Adam Price MS, Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy, on 1 October, bringing together leaders from across Wales’ fintech and financial services sector to address three structural constraints: access to capital, talent pipelines and international growth.

Companies represented at the event, hosted at Tŷ Admiral in Cardiff, included Admiral, Hodge Bank, Principality, Vodafone Business, Collections Cloud, IE Hub, Driverly and several other Welsh fintech and financial services firms. The session was framed as a direct exchange between industry and government, rather than a formal consultation, with the intent of surfacing actionable commitments.

Capital and culture

A recurring theme was Wales’ risk-averse investment culture, which several attendees said was limiting the ambition of early-stage companies. One participant called for a regulatory or policy sandbox that would give companies room to develop genuinely innovative products without facing disproportionate commercial risk during development. Another drew a comparison with Silicon Valley’s tolerance for failure, arguing that Wales needs a similar cultural shift if it is to compete for capital on a global stage.

The cost pressures on smaller businesses were also raised directly, with corporation tax, national insurance and PAYE obligations cited as disincentives to growth. Attendees argued that fiscal incentives need to be rebalanced to make Wales a more competitive destination for founders and investors alike.

Skills and specialisation

On talent, the group’s clearest message was that the skills system in Wales should be employer-led rather than supply-driven. Several specific skills shortages were identified as part of an informal audit conducted during the discussion, though these were not published in detail. Attendees also cautioned against pursuing broad technology trends without first identifying the subsegments where Wales has a genuine comparative advantage, pointing to Admiral’s development of specialist insurance expertise as the model to follow.

Sarah Jones, chief executive of FinTech Wales, said the session produced clear actions: “One of the clearest messages from around the table was the need to create easier access to funding and remove some of the red tape that prevents companies being able to move swiftly in their respective markets.”

The minister closed the discussion by acknowledging Wales’ productivity gap relative to the rest of the UK and stressing the role of the recently established Welsh development agency in co-ordinating industry input. He committed the Welsh Government to continued engagement with the sector and to promoting Welsh fintech strengths internationally.

Broader context

Wales occupies a relatively modest position in the UK’s regional fintech landscape. While clusters in Cardiff have grown since FinTech Wales launched in 2019, the region competes with better-capitalised hubs in London, Edinburgh, Manchester and Leeds for both talent and venture funding. The UK government’s own regional investment policies, including Levelling Up commitments, have delivered mixed outcomes for financial services outside London, and Welsh Government devolved economic levers are limited compared with those available to the Scottish Government, which has its own fintech strategy and dedicated public funding vehicles.

The conversation at the FinTech Wales roundtable reflects a pattern visible across smaller regional ecosystems: structural barriers to capital and skills are well understood, but translating political engagement into concrete funding mechanisms or regulatory accommodations remains the harder step. The reference to a development agency open to industry input is worth monitoring, as is any follow-through on the sandbox proposal, which would require co-ordination with the FCA’s existing innovation pathways.

FinTech Wales has more than 200 members and operates as a not-for-profit body. Further details on its events programme are available at fintechwales.org.

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