CGC Oakgrove Ebook 3.0

Finance

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.