Benedict Nielsen, a former head of debt capital markets syndicate for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Nomura, thinks fintechs are mad to focus so heavily on selling their services to banks.

When Nielsen joined the City in the 1990s, he said, it was very entrepreneurial, which was “fantastic”. But over the years this has subsided and the sector is increasingly using old, ineffective IT systems, he said. “There’s no headspace to be more entrepreneurial and more innovative. I desperately, desperately love the City. It just has to change.”