Banking services company LHV today opened for business in Leeds, its second UK location after London.
The new office in the Willington Place business hub will be home to the Company’s engineering and development teams, tasked with building a proprietary online customer portal specifically tailored for the Company’s B2B fintech clients.
LHV chose Leeds as its second UK office location because of the city’s well-established fintech ecosystem and the wider region’s highly skilled workforce. In addition, LHV UK is currently pursuing a UK banking licence as part of parent LHV Group’s plans to separate the business operations of its retail bank, LHV Bank, from those of the London headquartered fintech focussed LHV UK – since 2018, the Company has operated in the UK as LHV Bank’s UK branch. This move will allow better compliance with regulatory and supervisory requirements and enable LHV UK to highlight its value proposition and the profitability of its operations to new investors. As the complete separation will also include staffing and technology, management decided to establish a strong presence in Leeds.
Macs Dickinson, Lead Engineering Manager at LHV UK, said: “If London is the undisputed fintech capital of Europe, then Leeds is the fintech capital of the North. Last year, Leeds was named one of the fastest-growing tech cities according to Digital Economy Council, and the city is already home to more than 30 national and international banks. As the city is a location for the first fintech accelerator outside of London, it is an ideal second base for LHV UK.”
Rebecca Wright, Chief People Officer of LHV UK, said: “I’m thrilled to be helping a highly specialised international fintech focussed bank establish a base and build a team in my home county. Thanks to LHV UK being wholly owned by the established LHV Group, successful candidates can look forward to the prospect of joining an entirely new team that will work on an entirely new product without the risk of joining a startup.
“The pandemic has changed how people work. Together with LHV UK’s flexible approach, I view the office as a facilitator for collaboration. When I’m not in London, I often work from our Leeds office and so could many other potential employees, not only in the engineering and development teams, but also from elsewhere in the Company. By establishing a regional base, LHV UK has expanded the talent pool for potential hires.”
LHV UK currently provides banking services to more than 200 leading crypto and fintech companies, such as Paysafe, Blockchain, Currencyclud, Coinbase, Trustly, Monese and Wise. Since establishing a presence in Leeds at the beginning of the year, the Company has recruited more than half of the 20 positions it currently looks to fill in the coming months. The office has enough capacity for 30 desks, with options to scale up its presence in the Wellington Place business hub in the future if required.
LHV UK’s banking licence is subject to regulatory approval by the Prudential Regulatory Authority and Financial Conduct Authority.
