- £3 billion investment from Revolut will create 1,000 new high-skilled jobs in the UK, including a new global headquarters in London.
- This latest commitment takes total investment from major financial services companies to over £110 billion – in a single week, following announcements by Blackstone, BlackRock and PayPal.
- At the opening of the new London HQ the Chancellor declares UK ‘open for business’ as Leeds Reforms push Britain to the front of global race for financial services businesses, which will help put more money in people’s pockets through the Plan for Change.
Global fintech leader Revolut will today (23 September) open its new global headquarters in Canary Wharf, setting out plans to invest £3 billion in the UK and create 1,000 high-skilled jobs over the next five years.
This comes on the heels of last week’s £100 billion investment from asset manager Blackstone, £7 billion from BlackRock and £1.25 billion in inward investment from leading US financial firms including PayPal and Bank of America – generating 1,800 new jobs in major cities including London, Edinburgh, Belfast, and Manchester.
The wave of investment from financial services companies comes just months after the Chancellor cut needless financial red tape to ensure the UK wins the global race for financial services investment as part of the modern industrial strategy.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, said
The UK is well and truly open for business under this government. Through our Leeds Reforms we’re making Britain the best place for financial services companies to do business, pushing us ahead in the global race for investment and putting more money in people’s pockets through the Plan for Change.
Nik Storonsky, CEO and Co-founder of Revolut, commented
Our mission has always been to simplify money for our customers, and our vision to become the world’s first truly global bank is the ultimate expression of that. From our roots here in the UK, we’ve grown to serve over 65 million customers globally, and today’s opening of our new Global HQ in London is the launchpad for our future. This HQ will be central to driving our growth towards our next milestone of 100 million customers.
To power that journey from our home market, we are investing £3 billion in the UK over the next five years. This commitment will not only create 1,000 new jobs but will also fuel the innovation from our London hub that will help us deliver on our global ambitions.
The major investments from financial services firms over the past week include
- Blackstone is aiming to invest in excess of £100 billion of assets in the UK over the next decade. This includes their £10 billion investment in a data centre in Blyth.
- BlackRock expects to allocate over £7 billion to the UK market next year on behalf of its clients and is investing £500 million into enterprise data centres across the country.
- Bank of America is set to create up to 1,000 new jobs in Belfast, marking its first-ever operation in Northern Ireland — a major milestone that underscores the region’s growing role in global financial services.
- Citi Group today confirms it is investing £1.1 billion across its UK operations, including a further commitment to growing its presence in Northern Ireland where the bank is already one of the top employers in Belfast now employing over 4,000 people — firmly establishing Belfast as a major technology powerhouse.
- In Manchester, S&P Global are investing over £4 million into their Manchester offices which will support 200 permanent jobs boosting their nearly 3,000-strong UK workforce.
- As part of the UK’s expanding fintech and digital innovation sector, PayPal is announcing a £150 million investment in product innovations and growth that will benefit customers throughout the UK, reinforcing Britain’s position as a key market for the brand globally.
These investments in the UK are a vote of confidence in the UK’s economic plan, built on stability, investment and reform.
The Leeds Reforms set out the widest ranging reforms to financial regulation in over a decade, making the UK more attractive to global financial services firms.
This includes new support for fintech introducing tailored support to help FinTechs, with new start-ups getting a single regulatory point of contact to help them through the scale-up phase. The contact will be able to provide technical support to help them understand the regulatory requirements they need to meet in order to grow.
Revolut’s investment marks its commitment to the UK, where it has grown to become a global fintech leader with more than 10,000 employees and revenues of over £3 billion.
The company now serves over 65 million customers worldwide, including 12 million in the UK, and has set its sights on reaching 100 million customers globally by mid 2027. Revolut’s success exemplifies the strength of the UK’s fintech sector, which boasts around 3,000 firms supporting tens of thousands of skilled jobs nationwide.
