Boris Johnson Opens Level39 Financial Tech Hub

Last night, Mayor of London Boris Johnson opened Level39, a major accelerator space for technologies for the UK’s most successful industry, finance.

Based at One Canada Square, Canary Wharf in central London, the space will offer businesses a place to create, test, market and deliver technologies for finance as well as retail. Testing will be carried out in a range of “sandboxes”. It was announced back in October last year.

Another Level39

Level39 will form a major part of Tech City – the government’s attempt to make London the tech capital of Europe. A host of events have been organised for Level39 already, including the London Innotech Conference, the SWIFT Innotribe competition and WIRED’s Money Conference. They will take place in the 200-seat event space.

“Attracting the brightest entrepreneurial minds is crucial if London is to maintain its position as the world’s foremost financial centre and Level39 will foster just the talent we need to future-proof the capital’s technology and financial sectors,” Johnson said.

Eric van der Kleij, who previously headed up the Tech City Investment Organisation (TCIO), will lead Level39. “The timing could not be better to open Level39. London’s financial services sector is searching for new technologies to transform itself at the very moment that the tech sector is displaying the sort of growth required to move the UK economy forward,” he said.

“Level39 is London’s point of convergence for FinTech, situated in the East End, which is the most dynamic area of Europe right now.”

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