The South West exported £6billion of financial and related professional services in 2019, a new report reveals.
Figures from TheCityUK show the value of financial service export in the region jumped 6.9% in the pre-pandemic year. TheCityUK’s new report Exporting from Across Britain shows financial services to be the biggest exporting service sector in every British region and nation apart from the South East and the East of England.
According to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, financial services exports from the South West accounted for 5.1% of Great Britain’s total financial services exports in 2018.
TheCityUK estimates related professional services exports from the region accounted for 3.5% of Great Britain’s total related professional services exports.
The report reveals that 41% of South West’s financial services exports went to the EU in 2018, and the remaining 59% went to the rest of the world.
Of the overall South West export total £307million came from Devon, with £126million coming from Cornwall. Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and the Bristol/Bath area contributed £3.144billion, however, with £1.169billion being exports from Dorset and Somerset.
Financial services made up 18% of Devon’s entire service sector exports. The figure was 14% in Cornwall, but much higher in the Gloucestershire/Wiltshire/Bristol/Bath area at 40%, and even greater in Dorset and Somerset where financial services made up 44% of total invisible exports.
All regions and nations in Britain saw growth in financial and related professional services exports in 2019, with the industry’s exports rising overall by 8.2% year-on-year, contributing a total of £126.5billion to the UK economy while providing highly-skilled, well-paid jobs right across the country. Almost half (48%) of all financial and related professional services exports were generated outside of London in 2019.
READ THE ENTIRE EXPORTING FROM ACROSS BRITAIN REPORT HERE
The report shows that Yorkshire and the Humber experienced the strongest annual average growth of financial and related professional services exports over 2014-18, at 17%. This was followed by the East Midlands (15%), London (9%), the North East and Scotland (8% each).
The South East was the largest exporter outside the capital in 2019 with £10.7billion in estimated exports, followed by Scotland (£9.2billion) and the North West (£8.4billion).
To put this in an international context, in 2019 Scotland’s financial services exports were equivalent to around 50% of those of the whole of France, and the North West’s equivalent to around 45% of French financial services exports, reflecting the UK’s status as the world’s second-largest exporter of financial services, after the US.
Stephen Noakes, transformation director retail and community banking, Lloyds Banking Group, and Bristol City chair of TheCityUK, said: “Since 2016 we have seen consistent and steady growth in financial and related professional services exports from the South West.
“While it is too soon to know what the impact of the pandemic will be, we know our foundations are strong, and the industry has adapted well to the challenges we all face.
“We have a fast-growing and highly innovative FinTech cluster based in places like Bristol, Bath and Bournemouth – putting our region into a strong position to attract future investment and support highly skilled new jobs whatever the future holds.”
Anjalika Bardalai, chief economist and head of research at TheCityUK, the industry-led body representing UK-based financial and related professional services, said: “This report dispels the common misconception that London sells financial and related professional services overseas and the rest of the UK focuses on domestic activity.
“The British financial services sector made a £56billion trade surplus in 2018 and almost half of this was accounted for by regions and nations outside the capital.
“Industry exports are likely to contract in 2020 as Covid-19 wreaks havoc on global and UK economies. However, the disruption caused by the pandemic does not alter the fact that regions and nations outside London – especially the South East, Scotland, North West, and Yorkshire and the Humber – make large contributions to the UK’s position as the world’s leading financial and related professional services net exporter.”
