By
Darya Rudz
August 17th, 2023
Toronto can boast of multiple factors that altogether create a perfect environment for fintech development.
Toronto has been named as one of the top fintech centers in the world by the survey conducted by the Toronto Financial Services Alliance and Z/Yen at the end of 2016. The TFSA is a unique, public–private partnership dedicated to growing Toronto region’s financial services cluster and building it as a “top ten” global financial services center. Z/Yen is a leading UK think-tank.
The survey is based on the unique responses from over 300 individuals working in financial centers worldwide. It ranks financial centers in accordance with the level of the adoption of current trends and innovations in various areas of financial services such as fintech. Toronto is fourth in the list of global fintech centers of the future.
“Toronto is the second largest financial centre in North America, and Ontario has the second largest concentration of technology companies,” said TFSA President and CEO, Janet Ecker. “This unique ecosystem has created a perfect environment for a promising international fintech hub to emerge.”
The survey mentioned very strong government support, low cost of accommodation, great cultural diversity and plenty of capital available, as key factors to call Toronto a strong financial center.
Cybersecurity was named as the most significant area of fintech. “We’re seeing that Ontario’s cybersecurity industry is also beginning to be recognized worldwide. Canada ranks 4th in the world as a cybersecurity hub based on the volume and number of deals”, Ecker commented.
The most important facts about the financial development of Toronto are:
- Toronto is ranked as the 8th most important global financial center according to the yearly International Financial Centre ranking of the Banker.
- Toronto is the 2nd largest financial center in North America by employment.
- Ontario is currently the 2nd largest IT cluster in North America just after California.
- Such globally recognized accelerators and incubators as Communitech, MaRS, OneEleven and DMZ that was ranked 3rd globally and 1st in North America as a leading university-based incubator are located in Toronto.
- The University of Waterloo and the University of Toronto are both famous for their strengths in cutting edge technology, start-ups, accelerator programs and tech talent.
- According to Thomson Reuters, venture-capital financing in Canadian fintechs was up 74 per cent in 2016 while both the United States and Britain have experienced significant declines.
The survey of the Toronto Financial Services Alliance and Z/Yen, called Trends and Innovations in Financial Services, is now available.
This week, one of the most talked-about topics was the inauguration of new US President Donald Trump. And right in time, London-based fintech firm has announced the launch of an app that will generate trading alerts for shares based on comments made on social media by Donald Trump.
The app can arouse particular interest of fund managers and traders who invest billions of dollars daily on world stock, currency and commodity markets.
