Fintech investment in the UK fell by 21% in 2025, despite an increase in investment globally and in the wider Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

However, according to KPMG, the UK was still the main recipient of capital in EMEA, accounting for about a third of the entire region’s total.

In the UK, $10.97bn (£8bn) was invested in fintechs during 2025, compared with $13.35bn the previous year. This is its lowest level since the Covid pandemic in 2020 ($7.6bn). It was a year later, in 2021, that investment in UK fintechs peaked at over $17bn.

In the wider EMEA, investors channelled just over $29bn into the region’s fintechs in 2025, compared with about $26.5bn in 2024.

The UK benefits from being the location of choice for some of the world’s largest fintechs. For example, UK-headquartered bank Revolut received $3bn investment during the year, the biggest in Europe. The biggest European fintech investment outside the UK was the $150m received by small business lender Teylor.

The figures are in KPMG’s latest Pulse of fintech, a bi-annual report on fintech investment trends. The professional services business said “geopolitical tensions, investor scrutiny and the higher interest rate environment all contributed to more subdued levels of UK fintech investment”.

Hannah Dobson, head of fintech at KPMG UK, said that despite the fall last year, she expects this year to pick up. “While 2025 presented ongoing challenges, the UK continues to stand out as Europe’s fintech hub, attracting over a third of total EMEA funding,” she said. “Encouragingly, we are beginning to see momentum return as regulatory clarity improves and market conditions stabilise.”

Dobson added that to maintain the mantle of Europe’s leading fintech centre, the UK must ensure regulations make it “an investor-friendly location, a place where innovation and entrepreneurship can thrive and be supported”.  

Globally, fintech investment was worth $116bn in 2025, compared with $95bn in 2024. “While macroeconomic and geopolitical risks remain, the combination of stronger exit markets, greater regulatory clarity and accelerating innovation provides a constructive foundation for sustained investment and long-term value creation,” said Karim Haji, global and UK head of financial services at KPMG.

Separately, a study by Finastra, released this week, revealed the investments being made in tech by global banks.

It said artificial intelligence (AI) is being increasingly adopted by finance firms, and is now used by all but 1% of UK financial services firms.

In its Financial services state of the nation survey 2026, the IT supplier described AI as the “connective tissue” of the finance sector, and revealed that the technology’s evolution is also driving up spending in other areas, such as security and cloud.

The report said: “AI now sits at the heart of financial innovation. No longer confined to back‑office automation, it is powering real‑time fraud detection, personalised product recommendations, intelligent underwriting and dynamic customer engagement.”

Finastra CEO Chris Walters said institutions are no longer debating whether to adopt AI, but are focused on where it delivers tangible value and how it can be deployed responsibly.

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