Mayor of London Boris Johnson has officially opened Canary Wharf-based Level39, Europe's largest "accelerator space" for financial technology.
The site, established by Canary Wharf Group on the 39th floor of One Canada Square, is designed to provide small fintech firms with an office, events and social space to create, test, market and deliver financial, retail and future city technology products and services.
It has been tested over the last 12 weeks by participants in the Fintech Innovation Lab London, which has seen seven start-ups take part in workshops, panel discussions, user-group sessions and one-on-one meetings and presentations with senior bank staff.
Today, one of the seven firms, Open Bank Project parent Tesobe, has been hosting a day-long hackathon, with programmers, designers and members of the financial services industry coming together to bring their fintech ideas to life.
Now having been officially opened, with London's mayor on hand to unveil a 'digital plaque', the space is open for firms and entrepreneurs to apply to base themselves there.
George Iacobescu, chief executive, Canary Wharf Group, says: "It is crucial for London's business districts to keep pace with the needs of growing business sectors, and Level39 is our flagship for achieving this. We want Level39 to build on London's existing strengths in financial services and technology; Canary Wharf is a natural point for these worlds to come together."