Brexit casts cloud over Fintech sector growth

With Brexit and Britain's future relationship with Europe still totally unclear, more than one-third of survey respondents said they hope Brexit will be called off , while 23 percent want a quick decision, regardless of the outcome.

However, despite challenges tech companies believe the outlook for London's tech ecosystem remains positive.

The survey found that 82 percent of tech companies believe that while other European tech hubs might see more demand for global HQs, London will remain Europe's tech capital.

Shaw hopes to build more connections between China and the UK through Shanghai Advocates and the newly formed Tech Shenzhen Advocates, both of which are part of the Global Tech Advocates group.

"Many of the entrepreneurs and investors that I met in China are looking at the UK and Europe, they seem to be moving a bit away from America. I hope that we will benefit from that," Shaw said. "I always say to any businesses, 'if you want to go anywhere in the world to learn how to scale your businesses, go to China', because Chinese businesses do it remarkably well."

Despite the uncertainty of Brexit, Shaw remains optimistic that London will continue to be a magnet for investment and talent from all over the world.

"When I look at the London ecosystem, where we have got great businesses in fintech, machine learning, retail tech, health tech and med-tech is taking off , software services. We have amazing investors here, UK investors, European investors, Chinese investors, Soft-Bank's vision fund is based here, so that's really encouraging," Shaw added.

A separate report from global recruiter Robert Walters and market analysis experts Vacancy Soft reveals fears Brexit could stifle the rapid growth of the fintech sector.

According to the UK Fintech Revolution report, job creation within the fintech sector grew by 61 percent in London in 2018 and 18 percent in other regions, making it the fastest-growing sector in the country.

"The number of tech roles within fintech grew by 37 percent in 2018－a positive story for both the industry and the country," said Tom Chambers, manager of Advanced Analytics and Engineering at Robert Walter. "However, Brexit appears to be creating a fear of 'last in first out', which in turn means candidates are less willing to move roles as swiftly as they have in previous years－creating a lot less available talent in the market."

Brexit has put fintech hiring growth in doubt. One-quarter of IT professionals come from overseas and it is feared that any hard border Brexit will cause significant shrinkage to hiring pools for fintech and banks.

"The impact of uncertainty and talent shortages resulted in a slight slowdown in hiring activity late in 2018, with only London-based fintech companies with significant venture capital funding continuing to pursue aggressive recruitment campaigns," Chambers added.

The UK's fintech industry has attracted more than $16 billion in investment in the first half of 2018, more than any country, and by 2020, analysts at Robert Walters predict London will be home to just as many fintech unicorns as Silicon Valley.