US bank BNY Mellon has opened a European Innovation Centre in London, reinforcing the UK capital's status as a global crossroads connecting the world of high finance with the fintech startup community.
BNY Mellon says the centre will bring together tech start-ups, developers, industry experts and researchers to create an open ecosystem for re-imagining the future of finance.
“London offers a truly unique intersection of technology and finance that cannot be found elsewhere in the world." says centre head Leda Glyptis. "The development of new technology has always been instrumental to our success and the new Emea Innovation Centre is designed to take us even further.”
The Centre is BNY Mellon’s fifth to open in the last three years, three of them in the US and two in India.
BNY Mellon CIO Suresh Kumar says the new facilities are a response to the threat of disruption by digitally-savvy entrepreneurs questioning the status quo.
"We can’t wait for someone to disrupt us and then react," he says. "It’s time to innovate, or die."
The Emea centre will seek to cultivate the agile start-up mentality needed to remain at the forefront of the market, continues Kumar.
"This is how major financial institutions need to stay relevant and compete in the 21st century,” he says. “Our ambition is to combine the creativity and energy of Silicon Valley with the banking acumen of the financial capitals of the world, like London and New York. This is where we converge; it’s almost like where London meets Silicon Valley.”