Citigroup is setting up an innovation lab in London. The decision to set up this lab comes at the heels of U.K.’s preparation for Brexit, not to mention the new PSD2 regulation that went live some weeks earlier.
Citigroup’s lab will employ 75 tech experts. It will be located in one of WeWork’s shared workspaces in Moorgate, immediately north of the city’s financial center: Citi in The City.
The London Lab will also host the EMEA operations of Citi Ventures, the bank’s venture capital investing arm along with Citi’s D10XSM Program, an internal strategic growth model that lets Citi employees launch new businesses.
Interestingly, Citigroup established its first innovation lab in Dublin, Ireland in 2009. It currently has labs in Mexico, Singapore and Israel.
In a statement released to media on Monday, Paco Ybarra, global head of markets and securities services, said:
The financial services industry has historically been a large user of technology…We have always invested heavily in digital, but what we are seeing now is a step-change in both the investment we dedicate to technology and the pace of the evolution. The addition of London to our network of Global Innovation Labs highlights our commitment to the UK as a strategic hub for innovation.
Read more on Finance.co.uk and City AM.
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