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  2. Why the UK / UK-wide offer / Birmingham

Home to one of Europe's most impressive insurance markets

Birmingham - offering access to financial and legal expertise

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.

The UK’s only Tech Supercluster is thriving

A collaboration between the West Midlands’ largest and most well-established businesses and emerging tech firms aims to establish Birmingham and the region as a centre of next generation services.

Through a series of specially-designed programmes, hackathons and incubators, the West Midlands SuperTech is strengthening the ecosystem, developing talent, advocating PropTech all whilst championing Birmingham and the West Midlands.

Work such as the SuperTech Seeds programme has created nine new businesses to date as well as aiding 22 idea stage companies to launch their first minimum viable product (MVP) to market.

Members of the SuperTech cluster include various key players in the ProfTech (FinTech, PropTech, LawTech and InsurTech) sector including Shoosmiths, Wesleyan, Bruntwood, CBRE and Birmingham Law Society. The cluster is supported by key regional players such as the West Midlands Growth Company and the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP

Together they strive to create one powerful, unified voice for the supercluster which is capable of delivering real change.

The City of London Corporation has been pleased to support SuperTech in its growth. Read more on the SuperTech West Midlands website.

 

105,000 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. 

£187m in foreign direct investment in financial and professional services between 2019-23

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.

Investment into scaling West Midlands Tech firms

The Mansion House Compact, announced in July 2023, stands to deliver real benefits on the ground for tech firms across the country – including the West Midlands. The Compact – a commitment by some of Britain’s largest pension firms to allocate a minimum of 5% of defined contribution funds to unlisted equities by 2030 – will unlock capital to invest in fast-growing businesses like fintech and life sciences to ensure they can both scale and stay in the UK.
 
The West Midlands’ burgeoning tech sector – exemplified by the rapid growth of SuperTech, the professional services tech cluster – can position itself to appeal to investors seeking better returns for savers. Capital will land where there is sufficient absorptive capacity and innovation to deliver these returns, and the West Midlands is building an ever stronger voice and identity around its tech offer which makes for a compelling proposition.

The West Midlands’ Deeper Devolution Deal

At an exciting inflection point for the region, the West Midlands Combined Authority is a trailblazer of deeper devolution deals alongside Greater Manchester. Significant new powers have been secured in transport, trade, skills and employment, housing and regeneration, investment, innovation, business support and finance. We will continue to work with the Combined Authority, Growth Company and stakeholders across the region to support their ambitions in embedding their full-spectrum financial and professional services sector into their growth plans.