The UK and Ireland is now the fastest-growing region for Fintech investment (Accenture). Deal volumes here have been growing at 74 percent a year since 2008, compared with 27 percent globally and 13 percent in Silicon Valley.

Once again demonstrating its mastery of the mobile computing wave, Facebook has dazzled Wall Street by posting significant growth in revenue and profits for the second quarter, driven largely by ads shown in the news feeds of a billion Facebook users checking the service on their mobile phones.