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Home to one of Europe's most impressive insurance markets

Birmingham - offering access to financial and legal expertise

 

92,000 Financial and professional services jobs

Home to major players including Deutsche Bank, Hogan Lovells and KPMG, Birmingham is a globally relevant financial and professional services hub, with nearly two-thirds of the sector's workforce high skilled. Lying at the centre of the thriving West Midlands region, Birmingham hosts significant concentrations of banks and insurers – contributing to the nearly £3bn exported by the region in financial and insurance services – as well as the UK's largest legal and accountancy cluster outside London. 

£185m in foreign direct investment in financial and professional services between 2018-22

HSBC chose Birmingham as the headquarters of its retail bank, HSBC UK. International accountancy firm PwC have also moved to their new landmark building in the city, housing 2,400 staff. 

The Midlands Engine partnership, and the West Midlands Metro Mayor, who promotes trade and investment in the region, have helped to boost the appeal of the area to firms of all sizes.

The UK's offer

  • The region is home to more than 53,000 business, professional and financial services companies employing 358,200 people.
  • Generating £28 billion GVA annually, the sector is the largest in the region, responsible for 26.5% of the West Midlands economy.
  • The West Midlands is home to the largest regional tech and digital cluster outside of London with 72,700 people employed across 12,550 tech and digital companies.
  • The region’s newly established fintech sector boasts 122 companies employing around 7,375 people, 46% of which are classified as scaleups.
  • The West Midlands’ 12 universities contain 50 tech-related centres of excellence and deliver over 66,000 graduates every year.

New national SuperTech for professional services

A collaboration between the West Midlands’ largest and most well-established businesses and emerging tech firms aims to accelerate a technology revolution in professional services. 

Business leaders from Shoosmiths, Wesleyan, Bruntwood, CBRE and Birmingham Law Society, amongst others, are working with the region’s leading tech and digital companies to explore opportunities for leveraging frontier technologies such as AI and data-driven services to create the next generation of services businesses.

SuperTech – the first ProfTech supercluster in the UK - aims to showcase the talent, innovation, and investment potential of the West Midlands’ rapidly emerging professional services technology cluster. 

Read more about the West Midlands’ SuperTech on the SuperTech West Midlands website.

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