Scotland’s cluster strategy for developing areas of expertise has been boosted by new figures showing the number of fintech companies has more than doubled in the past five years.

Growth from just over 120 firms to 260 has been driven by higher levels of investment, deeper partnerships across industry, academia and the public sector, and more businesses scaling up and trading internationally.

Fintech Scotland, which was launched eight years ago, has been behind key initiatives including the 10-year FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap as well as the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), which encourages collaboration and product development.

In a recent case, identity verification company Amiqus was able to move a pilot project to live production with Virgin Money.

Another project, the Finance and Health Lab, is a pilot research and innovation programme dedicated to improving financial wellbeing across Scotland.

Aleks Tomczyk, who succeeds Nicola Anderson as chief executive of FinTech Scotland, said: “The doubling of Scotland’s fintech density is a clear signal that our collaborative and cluster-based approach is working.

“The Research and Innovation Roadmap provided a national framework to accelerate purposeful innovation, and it’s been inspiring to see how fintech entrepreneurs, financial institutions, and universities have got behind that shared vision.

“As I begin 2026 as FinTech Scotland’s new chief executive, I look forward to leading our plans to support the next stages of cluster growth and thereby accelerate successful business growth and innovation in financial technology.”

Jane Martin, managing director of Innovation and Investment at Scottish Enterprise, added: “A major strength for Scotland is its connected fintech cluster, an inclusive network of entrepreneurs, researchers, and industry leaders working together to solve real world challenges.

“This growth shows that Scotland can have a global impact by focusing on purposeful and collaborative innovation.”

Callum Murray, CEO of Amiqus, said: “FinTech Scotland has provided practical ongoing support to Amiqus and many other fintech scale ups across the country for many years.

“Our involvement in their FRIL innovation programme dramatically accelerated relationships with large scale banks, built trust in our capability to deliver at scale and directly led to us securing a new ongoing client partnership.

“We look forward to the collaborative opportunities working with the Fintech Scotland team over the years ahead.”

This article is published earlier than scheduled as another media outlet has broken the embargo