Rod Drury: “London’s Fintech Scene Is ‘World Class’”
Rod Drury, “the CEO of £1.4 billion accountancy software giant Xero says London is a world leader in fintech — financial technology — and will remain that way post-Brexit,” reports Oscar Williams-Grut in an article for Business Insider Australia.
“We love the fintech innovation happening in London, it’s absolutely world-class. When you see the apps that are being built here, they will go global. We’re really impressed by the quality of the finch thinking that goes on here,” said Drury.
According to the article many Brits fear that Britain’s vote to leave the European Union could “disrupt the growing financial technology sector by putting off investors and talent” in London.
Drury thinks “London’s fintech sector will survive the turbulence of Brexit.” “I think the UK is [a world leader in fintech] and I think it is for a few reasons. One, it’s very dense. This is a world banking sector and it’s very, very dense. You see it with the amount of fintech companies starting here, they get to scale quite quickly. The US is relatively fragmented. I think that’s why the UK finch solutions are some of the top in the world,” said New Zealander Drury.
Xero hopes to become “the foundation of the next generation of fintech.” Many finance businesses including “London startups like GoCardless (direct debit), MarketInvoice (invoice financing), and Receipt Bank (expenses) all integrate with Xero to offer their services through the platform.”
The New Zealander said “that Brexit hadn’t changed Xero’s plans for the UK, where it employs 172 people and has close to 200,000 customers.”
When asked if they would increase prices, Drury said it was no primary strategy to put up price.
“We’ve done a few little price things over the years. Really it’s more about adding more and more value. Online accounting is more or less done in terms of the accounting, now we’re moving to the front office and business apps, which we’ve already proved by all the add-on partners who are building new apps.”
Article Source: Business Insider Australia, Oscar Williams-Grut, November 1, 2016
Image Source: Youtube
