• 92% of fintech leaders expect competition to intensify over the next 12 months
• 89% believe the fintech sector will be stronger in five years – 36% say significantly stronger
• 94% however say the UK remains a good place to build and grow a fintech business
• Credible, visible leadership and trust are key to attracting investment and customers
• 67% leadership visibility as a key driver of trust. 82% report building trust is now the primary objective of their communications strategy

The Fintech 100 Leadership Survey, commissioned by fintech advisory firm Chatsworth and carried out by Censuswide, surveyed 100 fintech leaders in the run up to UK Fintech Week to gauge market sentiment, investment patterns and their views on the fight for capital, trust and growth.

92% of fintech leaders expect competition to intensify over the coming year. Despite challenging financial conditions, confidence in the sector remains bullish. 

Nearly nine in ten (89%) fintech leaders believe the sector will be stronger in five years, with 36% saying it will be significantly stronger while 94% consider the UK a good place to build and grow a fintech business. 

The UK fintech market, valued at £16–18bn, sits within a global sector worth around £370bn and projected to exceed £1.3 trillion within a decade.

The report signals a fundamental shift in how fintechs compete. Firms are increasingly evaluated by investors and customers on their ability to demonstrate credibility, stability and long-term value, not innovation alone. 

Four-fifths (82%) of leaders say building trust is now a primary objective and 71% have adjusted their growth strategy in response to tighter capital conditions, with cost of talent, macroeconomic conditions and investor sentiment cited as the top pressures.

Fintech leaders identified embedded finance and AI-driven financial services as the standout growth opportunities, followed by payments innovation, open banking and regtech. 

Leadership visibility is emerging as a critical differentiator, with 67% saying it is a key driver of trust, 72% increased investment in executive profiling and thought leadership over the past 12 months, and 94% say financial media directly influences investment decisions.

The sector has matured quickly, competition has increased, capital is more selective, and the bar for credibility is much higher. Fintechs are no longer just competing with each other. Banks and financial infrastructures have caught up, closed a lot of the innovation gap, and in some cases are setting the pace, investing heavily in digital, in AI, in customer experience and they already have established relationships, trust, scale and capital to their advantage.

Despite increasing competition, the overwhelming sense of confidence in the future of the sector really stood out. That includes a bullish view on fintech in the UK. The fintechs that will win out in the years ahead will be the ones that can prove, consistently, that they can be trusted at scale and in partnership with financial institutions. That grown up, credibility impresses investors and customers. 

Visible, credible leadership and independent analysis and verification remains a critical differentiator. All of this affects the way LLMs analyse and verify a brand and team and influences potential partners and investors. The smarter fintechs have recognised the need to establish credible authority. 

You can download the survey highlights here.