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Sector Outlook
The UK is Europe’s leading finance sector and contributes around £124 billion
to the UK economy, 7% of the workforce and employing 2.2 million people.
The sector covers a wide range of services including banking, insurance,
tax, investments, financial planning and treasury. Throughout the UK there
are 34,000 businesses providing financial services and more than 37,000
accountancy practices. The UK has globally the 2nd largest pension industry
with more than £2.1 trillion in investments. Since 2007 over 100 billion has
been invested in the UK. The sector is growing but not yet returned to 2008
levels. There are future risk for the sector as Brexit looms with some reports that
10,000 jobs could go if the UK can’t access the single market. Cities such as
Dublin, Frankfurt and Paris could make gains.
Although a third of the industry is in London and the South East, it’s worth
remembering that cities such as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester have
flourishing financial centres and typically the industry takes on around 70,000
new starts each year. Accountancy and finance employs more than one million
people working in audit, tax and commercial businesses. Some of the biggest
employers include Deloitte LLP, EY, KPMG and PwC. 417,000 staff are employed
in banking with typical employers being Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking
Group plc, Nationwide and the Royal Bank of Scotland. If you are interested in
investments, firms such as Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley
are worth pursuing for possible career opportunities.
Vacancies in insurance maybe found with companies such as Aviva, AXA, Lloyds
of London and LV. Other sectors of the industry worth considering are building
societies and financial planning organisations. In the UK, there are many more small
to medium-sized enterprises than large companies so it’s worth casting your net
further afield. Charities and not-for-profit organisations may also offer opportunities
to help get you started. The skills employers want include logical mind set, attention
to detail, accuracy and ability to work under pressure. Many companies have
internship, graduate and apprenticeship programmes providing different routes into
the industry. For graduates, those with a numerate degree would have an advantage
and for some roles a relevant vocational degree is preferred.
Finance