Madrid City Council, through its foreign investment office Madrid Investment Attraction (MIA), within the department of Economy, Innovation and Employment, held a meeting today at the International Lab in Madrid, International FinTech Capital, announcing the key data obtained from its softlanding programme to attract talent and investment in the area of Fintech to the city through its Fintech Global Antenna.

The Softlanding programme for Fintech companies developed by MIA and Finnovating has attracted the attention of numerous Fintech companies interested in setting up in Madrid. Over the past year, more than 3,000 meetings have been held with very promising results, and 12 strategic agreements have already been signed. In addition to the results achieved so far, during the event, the new features of the softlanding programme were explained for Fintech companies in Madrid and several Fintech companies outside Spain, including Movizzon, a Walliance and Aura Pay, who had the opportunity to share their experience and explain why they have chosen Madrid as a destination for internationalisation.

At this event, there was also a round table debate on “Opportunities for FinTech in Regulation, Sandbox and Law start-ups”, in which Arturo González Mac Dowell, President of the Spanish Association of FinTech and InsurTech (AEFI) took part, alongside: Luna Azahara Romo González Head of the New Technologies Unit from the Bank of Spain; Raquel Sánchez Candel, Associate of CMS A&SL in FinTech and Innovation. The debate was moderated by Leyre Celdrán Edo Director of the AEFI.

Ángeles Prieto Arroyo, Director General of Economy in Madrid City Council, was in charge of presenting the event. In her words: “At Madrid City Council we are promoting Fintech as a high value-added sector to attract foreign companies dedicated to this activity. In addition, we are convinced that it is also an opportunity for these companies that are located in Madrid to have access to all the talent that our city has to make their businesses a success”.

As stated by Rodrigo García de la Cruz, CEO of Finnovating: “The Madrid fintech softlanding programme is one of the best initiatives for the development and attraction of talent and investment in this thriving sector.”

Madrid, only behind London, New York, and San Francisco in the number of Fintech companies.

Spain, and specifically Madrid, is perceived by experts and companies as the best gateway to the markets of Latin America, Europe, and MENA (Middle East and North Africa), since it provides immediate access to more than 1.6 billion consumers in these markets for companies that are established in Madrid as Fintech capital to operate.

Currently, Spain has more than 700 Fintech, Insurtech, and Regtech companies. Most of them are located in Madrid, making it the fourth most important city in the world for Fintech after London, New York, and San Francisco.