Financial and business services
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© VisitEngland
With London's square mile of offices, Leeds' thriving Financial Quarter, Bristol's banking centre and metropolises like Birmingham and Manchester, it's easy to see why our financial and professional services sector employs over two million people.
Law, accountancy, insurance, management consulting, pensions, private equity and banking are just some of the financial professions strongly represented in the UK.
London is the highest-ranking global centre for financial services in the world. But England's other regions are doing 'big business' too. The South East employs nearly a quarter of a million financial and profession staff, while the North West is an expert in asset and wealth management, law and accountancy.
International firms make up half of our financial services groups and we host more European headquarters than the rest of Europe. Our Foreign Exchange has a healthy presence and the London Stock exchange lists over 600 global companies.
The law profession has a strong case in the UK with over 200 law companies in the capital alone. Barristers train and work in London's Inns of Court, which date back to the 14th century. Leeds also hosts many top UK law firms and the biggest law firm in the world, DLA Piper. Top lawyers graduate from Cambridge, Oxford, Nottingham and Warwick universities.
England has a head for numbers with a strong accountancy workforce. More than 300,000 people work at accountancy companies in the UK. That's a huge 15 per cent of the global workforce.
The Lloyd's of London insurance market started as a 17th century coffee house. Now there are 87 insurance syndicates underwriting in Norman Foster's iconic, shiny building.
The Financial Services Act has recently set out a new framework for financial regulation, supporting the work of our financial organisations.