More than 100 ‘fintech’ jobs are to be created in Bristol by one of South Africa’s largest financial services groups in a move that was today welcomed by Prime Minister David Cameron.
MMI Holdings, which acquired Bristol-based financial technology firm Blue Speck Financial earlier this year, plans to open a base in the city employing around 120 people. Some 100 jobs are expected to be created by 2017. 
MMI is the latest in a string of major international businesses to invest in Bristol’s globally-significant, fast-growing tech hub.
Blue Speck runs the Yourwealth.co.uk website, which harnesses technology to make it easy for individuals to manage their money. It also runs the MoneyHub app across phone, tablet and desktop to help people manage, track and gain visibility of their finances in a new way.
Blue Speck founder and CEO Toby Hughes – a Bristol-based serial entrepreneur – said MMI had been attracted by the city’s world-class tech sector and its quality of life.
The SETsquared innovation hub, which has mentored Blue Speck, also played an important part in MMI’s decision, he said.
“Bristol has two great universities, strong creative, tech and financial services industries, and good links to London,” Mr Hughes said.
“Incubators such as SETsquared, voted one of the three best in the world, make Bristol a great place to accelerate a tech-focussed business. There’s a wealth of talent in Bristol and it’s one of the best cities in the UK for a work-life balance.”
Speaking at the UK Investment Summit in Newport today, David Cameron named MMI’s Bristol move as part of a wider speech of business investment and job creation across the UK.
MMI, which is listed on the South African stock exchange, specialises in long and short-term insurance, asset management, savings, investment, healthcare administration, health risk management, employee benefits, and rewards programmes.
MMI’s decision comes hot on the heels of a series of announcements by global business players investing in the Bristol and Bath region’s tech cluster, the only UK tech cluster outside London to be named ‘internationally-significant’ and ‘high-growth’ in a recent Centre for Cities/McKinsey & Co report.
Earlier this year Bristol-based tech firm SecondSync was acquired up by social media giant Twitter while Somerset-based solar-powered drone maker Ascenta was acquired by Facebook. Big names from the tech world such as Somo, the world’s largest independent mobile solutions company, Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, and Just Eat, the leading online takeaway service, have set up bases in Bristol this year.
Matthew Cross, head of inward investment at Invest Bristol & Bath, the inward investment agency for the region, said: “Bristol and Bath’s tech cluster is a highly-attractive investment proposition for global businesses seeking to set up a base in a fast-growing hub of technological innovation with internationally-recognised credentials and an exceptionally collaborative community of businesses across interlinked sectors.
“Companies are also keen to benefit from Bristol and Bath’s strong and well-established skills base- which has developed off the back of a rich heritage in engineering and the presence of leading universities in the region – not forgetting the area’s excellent transport links and the fantastic quality of life that it has to offer.”
“In addition, the region is also attracting significant interest as a result of being the source of a plethora of home-grown start-ups and SMEs that are making major advancements in the creative, digital and high tech sectors. It is testament to the quality of the tech sector in Bristol and Bath that global players such as MMI Holdingsi are investing in not only acquiring businesses here, but growing them in situ.”
Invest Bristol & Bath has helped to create more than 1,200 jobs in the West of England region since its inception in January 2013, new figures showed recently, boosted significantly by increasing interest from major tech firms in investing in the area.
Other investment projects to have been secured in the West of England region recently include: Kainos, the specialist independent software company from Belfast, which has opened an office in Bristol city centre; and Sanoh, the international automotive industry manufacturer originating from Asia, which has opened a new site in Bristol.
