Scottish Financial Enterprise has launched a new promotional campaign to attract international investment.
The launch comes as Scotland was again named the UK’s premier inward investment location for financial services outside of London in EY’s annual Attractiveness Survey, while retaining its position as the UK’s second largest financial centre in The City UK’s latest report.
The latter, published earlier this week, showed that financial services employs 5.2% of people nationally – or about 136,000 employees – which create an estimated £14.3bn in gross value added for the economy.
Major recent investments in Scotland include Barclays’ new Glasgow campus, which has expanded its Scottish headcount to 5,700 and JP Morgan’s new technology base in Glasgow, which will house around 2,700, while BlackRock recently announced plans to grow its headcount in Edinburgh to more than 1,400 at its new iHub premises.
The campaign seeks to build on these recent successes by securing even greater investment, highlighting the unique strengths that set the Scottish industry apart from key competitors, including:
- The depth, breadth and maturity of Scottish finance, which benefits from 300 years of experience and strengths across every sub-sector.
- Scotland’s abundance of talent and strong record of innovation, highlighted by its world- class universities and burgeoning fintech sector.
- The quality and value of Scotland’s business landscape, which benefits from our accessible cities, high standards of living, and relatively low cost-base.
The From Scotland to the World campaign was launched at a reception at the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday. The event was attended by industry leaders, politicians from across the political spectrum, included a keynote address from Finance Secretary and Deputy First Minister Shona Robison.
The campaign has been developed in partnership with Scottish Development International and the Department of Business and Trade.
Sandy Begbie, chief executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise, said: “Scotland’s financial and related professional services industry is one of our most prized national assets.
“Our new international campaign is about getting that message out to key investors around the world, bringing them in to be a part of our unique story, supporting our future growth and theirs.”
Robison said: “Scotland’s financial services industry makes a significant contribution to our economy and its strength in attracting investment is to be celebrated.
“By emphasising the innovation we’ve seen in Scotland in areas such as fintech and data, there is an exciting opportunity for the sector to continue building success, investment and employment.”
Minister for Scotland Malcolm Offord said: “With world-class Scottish universities honing the next generation of talent, financial institutions are drawn to invest here and I’m sure many more will see the clear benefits.“
Scott Walker, co-head of BlackRock in Edinburgh, added: “Our presence in Scotland has been the foundation on which we built our European business, and our investments in critical social infrastructure and green projects demonstrates our commitment to, and confidence in, Scotland’s long term growth potential.”
Scottish Financial Enterprise is the representative body for Scotland’s financial services industry, with more than 10 member companies, which range in size from global institutions headquartered in Scotland like abrdn, Baillie Gifford, Bank of Scotland and Royal Bank of Scotland, to UK and international companies with substantial operations in Scotland like Barclays, BlackRock, Phoenix, Morgan Stanley and Royal London, and locally-based fintechs and support companies drawn from other areas of financial services.
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