Financial services company relocating in the UK? It's not all about London.

Relocating to the UK? No, UK investment is not all about London. While London may arguably be the largest and oldest financial services centre in the modern world, many financial services businesses are choosing to locate their business in other regions of the UK.

These regions within the UK have developed, and continue to expand, their own large-scale capacity to provide such services. But does everyone know about this?

UKTI has identified 8 financial clusters in the UK that have all of these traits in abundance:

  • Availability of skilled staff
  • Suitable infrastructure, including transport and communication links
  • A regional ecosystem of financial and related business and professional companies
  • Adequate business accommodation
  • Affordability
  • Quality of life
  • Local political support

These regions should be at the forefront of key business leaders' minds, in London and across the world. This isn’t about taking business away from London, far from it. But if London-based companies do decide to relocate to more cost effective locations, those locations should still be in the UK, and such organisations need to be aware of their options within the UK so that they can make informed decisions.

The offer outside of London is very strong so making more people aware of it is a no brainer. It’s a little known fact that around 60% of GVA from financial services in the UK comes from outside London, so it makes sense to pay a little attention to the UK's bigger basket of eggs.

From the regions, just to name a few, there is Admiral who successfully employ 5000 people in their Cardiff office; JP Morgan in Bournemouth who have a large operation of approximately 4000; BNY Mellon in Manchester and TD Direct Investing in Leeds.

To anyone who’s got a locational decision to take, whether you are already in the UK and considering relocating to another area or looking to invest for the first time, take a look at what the UKTI has put together with the assistance of many firms thriving in these regions:

Financial sectors of excellence in the UK

Yorkshire Financial Centre of Excellence

South Wales Financial Centre of Excellence

South Coast of England Financial Sector of Excellence

 

If you would like to know more about how we can support your employee relocation programme or are considering relocating an employee or your company overseas for the first time and would like to talk to us about it, please use the button below or call us on:

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