The Lord Mayor of London visits Leeds City Region

The visit, arranged by West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, with support from the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP), consisted of a series of meetings, round tables and company visits to provide the Lord Mayor of London with a deep understanding of the region�s offer.

Yorkshire Building Society and the LEP developed a FinTech breakfast, which saw over thirty delegates attend, including representatives from the City Region�s businesses such as HSBC and Zerado.

A broad FinTech discussion opened the forum, with all attendees highlighting the potential for Leeds City Region to capture further FinTech opportunities owing to its adaptive nature, which lends itself to many other sectors and areas of focus, such as Smart Cities. A further technical discussion explored how the financial markets will be further disrupted by FinTech and how the technologies are continuously innovating, which is very exciting for the sector, but can be destabilising for current systems.

The session also incorporated a discussion on skills and the potential skills gap within technology and FinTech was discussed. The LEP�s skills action plan was explored, demonstrating how FinTech and other digital skill requirements are being addressed in Leeds City Region, with the view of capturing the City Region�s opportunity for growth in the technology sector, which is predicted to create 10,000 new jobs by 2020.