The number of financial jobs in the UK financial services industry has hit a record high – in a sign that much of the gloom about the sector has been misplaced, writes John-Paul Ford Rojas.
City minister Andrew Griffith said it showed the industry was “a jewel in Britain’s crown that even the doomsters cannot deny”.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures last week showed the number of jobs in financial and insurance activities hit 1.235m in the first quarter of the year – 34,000 more than at the end of 2022.
It was above a previous peak of 1.209m in 2008 and is the highest since comparable ONS figures began in 1978. Jobs in the sector have increased despite gnashing of teeth over the City’s future after Brexit.
And more recently there has been much soul searching over the UK losing companies such as chip designer Arm to New York – prompting reform efforts in Whitehall and the City.
Yet the UK continues to more than hold its own against European rivals. Figures from the end of June show the total market value of firms listed in London at £4.7trillion compared with £3trillion for rival Paris.
And there has been an increase in jobs since the pandemic – up by 119,000 since the third quarter of 2020.
Britain demonstrated its attractiveness as a global financial centre in June when US venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz said it would open its first international office in the UK.
Griffith said: “Our vision for Britain as the most open, innovative and competitive financial centre in the world is bearing fruit.”
He said the UK had “seized the opportunities of Brexit” through laws which will help unlock billions in investment. He added: “Our financial services industry is a jewel in Britain’s crown that even the doomsters and armchair generals cannot deny.”
Efforts to reinvigorate the City’s status as a financial centre have been underway in recent months. Listing regulations are being tweaked while the Government changed rules to unlock more of the trillions of pounds held by UK pensions and insurance firms.
City of London figures show financial services produced £193bn in economic output in 2022.
