🔒Stamford aims to become a hotbed for the fintech industry

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The city of Stamford has long been known to have a strong financial services sector — helped by its proximity to Manhattan — but its focus lately has been on growing its stable of financial technology companies.

In recent years, a number of fintechs have either started in the city or arrived there as part of an expansion.

In March 2024, Banking Circle, a Luxembourg-based fintech payments company, opened a U.S. headquarters at 1 Station Place, in Stamford.

Fintech wealth management company Mirador in 2022 announced plans to move its headquarters from Darien to Stamford and add more than 200 jobs in the city as part of a multiyear, state-incentivized expansion. Mirador last year was acquired by New York-based fintech iCapital, which has an office in Greenwich and pledged to maintain all of Mirador’s employees and Stamford location at 850 Canal St.

London-based Moneycorp, which provides international money transfer and online foreign exchange services, last year announced plans to occupy office space at 400 Atlantic St., in Stamford.

Other Stamford-based fintech companies include digital consumer financial services provider Rellevate, founded in 2019 at 700 Canal St., and Digital Currency Group, which was founded in New York City in 2015 and moved its headquarters to 290 Harbor Drive, in 2021.

A key driver of some of Stamford’s recent additions is the state’s embrace of revised banking regulations that aim to attract fintech companies to Connecticut. The state Department of Banking has been promoting what is now known as its innovation bank charter, which provides a regulatory framework for financial institutions that provide banking services but don’t accept retail deposits.

Connecticut is one of only a handful of states to offer the charter, and four firms — including Moneycorp and Banking Circle — have applied and been granted it, or received a temporary certificate of authority.

In addition to startups, most, if not all, of Stamford’s more established financial services companies are significantly leveraging and embracing technology, or even buying up fintechs.

That includes consumer financial services provider Synchrony Financial, which is headquartered at 777 Long Ridge Road and employs about 20,000 workers worldwide.

Regional lender Webster Bank, which relocated its headquarters to Stamford in 2022 following its merger with New York-based Sterling Bancorp, has been actively acquiring fintech companies, including its January 2023 purchase of interLINK, a technology-enabled deposit management platform.

Leah Kagan, Stamford’s director of economic development, said the city has been proactive in trying to build up its fintech industry.

“We do have a presence of fintech companies large and small, large meaning Synchrony and small meaning some startups or companies that are still developing,” Kagan said.

Also helping the city’s efforts is UConn’s recent launch of a financial technology master’s degree program at its Stamford campus, which aims to not only boost the school’s enrollment but develop a new pipeline of workers.

Of course, there have been growing pains along the way.

Gov. Ned Lamont and other state economic development officials in June 2021 cheered fintech startup Tomo’s decision to establish its corporate headquarters in Stamford, at 2200 Atlantic St.

The company, which offers a digital mortgage and home-purchasing platform and was founded by former Zillow executives, was expected to employ up to 100 workers in the city, with the help of “earn-as-you-grow” incentives from the state.

However, in March of this year, Tomo announced it would relocate its headquarters from Stamford to New York City to “tap into a larger talent pool and better support our expanding team.”

“The proximity to New York City can sometimes work against us, as is the case with Tomo, but it often works to our advantage as well,” Kagan said.

Fintech hotbeds

New York City is in fact a top hub globally for the fintech industry. Nearly half (or 45%) of U.S. headquartered fintech companies with more than 100 employees are located in New York City and the San Francisco Bay area, which is considered the top destination for fintechs, according to Area Development, an executive magazine covering corporate site selection and relocation.

Both regions’ prevalence of tech and financial services companies and talent make them supportive ecosystems for fintech businesses. Other top cities for fintechs include Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia, according to Area Development, which didn’t identify Stamford as a core, secondary or emerging growth market for the industry.

Scott Mills, executive board member of the National Fintech Organization, a nonprofit support group for the industry, said Stamford has yet to be recognized nationwide as a “hotbed” for the fintech sector, but it could be someday.

“If community and business leaders put a priority on this industry because of its high-paying jobs and impact on the financial services economy, it can be cultivated,” he said.

Notably, the National Fintech Organization recently launched an academic council that aims to increase awareness of fintech-specific education and create a network of schools that share ideas. UConn is among 10 universities — including Duke, Wake Forest and Iowa — that are inaugural members of the academic council.

UConn has also teamed up with the city of Stamford to compete for a share of a $100 million state Innovation Clusters Program fund that aims to grow new technological industries and jobs in Connecticut.

As part of the effort, Stamford, which is competing with Hartford and New Haven for funding, has proposed launching an AI Innovation Institute that would be a destination for startup acceleration, workforce training and technology programming centered around the fintech, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity industries.

UConn would launch the institute with a supercomputing platform and faculty director. Stamford’s plan also envisions approximately 800,000 square feet of residential and commercial real estate development.

Kagan said she thinks it’s fair to say that Stamford is becoming a national fintech hub, “but I would also suggest that it is truly a global hub, given the number of international companies with a base here.”

Talent build-up

UConn launched a master’s degree in financial technology at its Stamford campus in 2022, due to the city’s strength in financial services, said Laurissa Berk, director of global and experiential education for the UConn School of Business’ STEM programs.

“Stamford has a lot of hedge funds and banks, as does Fairfield County and New York, which is 45 minutes away,” she said. “It absolutely makes sense.”

The program works with Stamford fintech companies to create academic projects for students and give pupils opportunities to meet industry executives, Berk said. It also introduces them to fintech companies in New York.

“It’s not just faculty advising and updating the curriculum,” she said. “It’s people working in industry, at these banks, at these fintechs saying, ‘here’s what we’re actually doing in industry.’”

The program has graduated about 60 students so far and received about 130 applications for the fall 2025 semester as of mid-May, said John Wilson, academic director of the fintech program, which is also offered at UConn’s Hartford campus.

Wilson said Stamford’s fintech industry has great growth potential because the city is already a hub for financial services, has the right talent and is close to New York City.

“I think at some point, the right people are going to come together at the right time, in the right place, and then you’re going to see Stamford explode,” he said.

He said Tomo left Stamford for New York because the state needs to provide a more attractive business environment, instead of just enticing companies with monetary incentives.

“I’d rather have a company that says we are looking to partner with all the people, the state, the community, other companies, academia — and we want to grow here,” he said.

UConn’s launch of a fintech program should further draw and develop the right financial technology talent to Stamford and other parts of the state, said John Bourdeaux, president and CEO of New Haven-based AdvanceCT, the state’s nonprofit business recruitment arm.

“The talent pool for financial services and fintech in and around Stamford is amazing,” he said. “If you look at it, you are able to draw from New York City, right all the way up into Connecticut. … Five or 10 years from now, I think that you will have an even more vibrant ecosystem.”