The new report, ‘Exporting from across Britain 2023’ by TheCityUK, dissects data related to Scotland’s contributions to financial services and related professional service exports. The report is based on the latest available data (2021), which offers a look into the nuances of the field a year after the pandemic began. 

The data demonstrated robust growth, with Scotland exporting £9.2 billion worth of services, marking a 3.1% surge from the previous year, and a rebound from the initial decline witnessed due to the pandemic. 

“Scotland’s world-class financial and related professional services industry is a linchpin of our economy, providing hundreds of thousands of high-value jobs and helping to fund vital public services,” said Sandy Begbie CBR FRSE, chief executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise.

According to him, the report not only celebrates the industry’s rebound, but also forecasts a promising trajectory for the future. 

“Looking ahead, we have all the ingredients for sustainable long-term growth. We have core strengths across every industry sub-sector and are well placed to respond to the key trends shaping the industry like green and sustainable finance and fintech, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence,” he said. 

While London continues to dominate not only the UK, but all of Central Europe in the financial sector, the report points out that nearly half of the financial and related professional services exports originated outside the capital. 

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“With nearly half of all financial and related professional services exports coming from outside London, the notion of London being the only place in the UK catering to international markets is a fallacy,” said Anjalika Bardalai, chief economist and head of research at TheCityUK.

“The data also underline the contribution Scotland plays in making the UK one of the world’s leading international financial centres.”

According to the data, Scotland’s financial services sector employed 136,000 people during the year the report was based on. This represented over 5% of the region’s total employment and contributed almost £14.3 billion to the local economy.