The UK and London continue to be seen as prime targets for investment. Financial and professional services, and fintech, widely acclaimed.
Despite the pandemic, the downturn in the economy and Brexit, the UK continues to be the preferred target for investment in financial and professional services. This is what emerges from a new report by the City of London Corporation which focused in particular on understanding why the island, and more particularly Londoncontinues to attract so many investors compared to other financial centers in the world.
UK and London still seen as prime investment targets
In 2021, 169 overseas companies were investing £1.1 billion in the UK financial services sector, across 189 different projects. In terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) in financial and professional services (FPS), the UK ranks first in Europe for attractiveness in number of projects. Only the United States does better in the world. London itself accounts for half of the investment, with £600m in 114 projects. The other 75 projects are located in Manchester, Belfast, Edinburgh and Birmingham, in order of importance.
The largest FPS investments in the UK come from companies in the United States and North America, for 42%, followed by Western Europe (31%) and Asia-Pacific (17 %). But while these regions provide the most prolific investors, four of the top 10 corporate investors in 2021 come from Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East.
Financial and professional services, and fintech, widely acclaimed
According to the report, the UK is still seen as a very attractive investment opportunity thanks to the availability of capital, research and development resources and its very stable legal framework. And if we take a closer look at the projects that these resources produce, the report explains that fintech accounts for a third. In 2021, 32% of foreign investors came from a fintech. The next two largest investor clusters were IT services and investment consultants, with 15% each.
The study also looked at the return of the United Kingdom post Covid-19. While FDI projects have decreased by 30%, 2022 will see an 8% increase in the number of projects, with +66% in the value of investments. Job creation in the fintech industry is also very promising. Before the pandemic, a project created an average of 29 jobs. In 2021, 44. Before the pandemic, an average project raised an average of £4.5m. Today, about 5.8 million pounds. And this dynamic should be further accentuated.