GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH COMPETE SUCCESSFULLY ON WORLD STAGE IN FINANCIAL SERVICES
Scotland’s financial services industry continues to compete on the global stage, with Glasgow and Edinburgh both rising in world rankings of financial centres.
Glasgow jumped up nine places to 42nd whilst Edinburgh moved up one place to 33rd in the Global Financial Centres Index.
Edinburgh is now ahead of Munich and Copenhagen, whilst both Edinburgh and Glasgow are ahead of Madrid, Rome, Stockholm and Brussels.
In the UK, only London ranks more highly than Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The index measures the competitiveness of financial centres around the world, based on several indices in combination with a regular questionnaire of senior industry figures from across the world.
Financial and related professional services are the largest contributor to the Scottish economy, adding around £14,300 million Gross Value Added annually. The industry directly employs 136,000 people, with many thousands more in the supply chain, and with salaries a third higher than Scotland's average wage.
A recent new growth sector strategy launched by the Scottish Financial Industry aims to double assets under management in Scotland’s financial services sector to £1 trillion (one million, million) by 2030.
Patricia Gibson MP said:
“These figures confirm that Scotland is a global leader in financial services.
“The impressive rankings are testament to the work and engagement of businesses and organisations across Glasgow and Edinburgh, and the wider financial services industry.
“The recently launched Financial Services Growth Strategy highlighted key milestones and goals for measuring our growth within Scotland and this index forms part of these measures.
“It’s great news that both Glasgow and Edinburgh are firmly competing on the global stage and helping support Scotland’s economy and the SNP Government’s focus on economic growth.”
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