Objective and methodology

How we can better understand the levers to accelerate growth in Scotland’s financial services sector.

In order to accelerate the Scottish financial sector’s growth trajectory and develop leadership in an evolving, AI-enabled global market, existing strengths within Scotland’s financial sector must be built upon and potential barriers to growth removed.

There are valuable lessons to be drawn from both the largest and the fastest-growing financial services centres and exploring the drivers of these markets’ successes can inform and contribute to more effective strategies catalysing growth across Scotland’s financial services sector.

To explore this, our study focused on answering four fundamental questions:

Which financial services markets are experiencing the fastest growth globally?
What common factors contribute to the success of these fast-growing financial services hubs?
To what extent do these factors exist within Scotland’s financial services sector and what structural barriers or strategic advantages will influence its potential to become a top-tier global financial services hub?
What actions can Scottish financial services stakeholders take to reinforce existing strengths and accelerate future growth across the sector?

What is a “fast-growing financial hub”?

The term “fast-growing financial hubs”, refers to the strategically important financial centres that have accelerated growth over recent decades – particularly in the years since the global financial crisis. This research identifies the top ”fast-growing financial hubs” globally, by examining the cumulative growth of financial services sectors within developed markets over the past decade.

We evaluated how the financial sectors across these hubs contribute to economic growth by examining the increase in Gross Value Added (GVA) by the sector to national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the past decade, with data sourced from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)^[1]. This data was assessed on a per capita basis using data from the OECD and the World Bank.

The research is also informed by detailed economic analysis – both historic and forecast – of global financial services markets, supported by deep qualitative interviews and a survey of 70 leaders from Scotland’s financial industry. (The window for survey responses was open between 23 July 2024 and 3 September 2024.)

Throughout this report, references to ”financial services” does not include related professional services firms, such as sector-dedicated management consultancies and law firms. This is to help ensure parity across international geographies by focusing on core financial services institutions.

^[1] This study focuses in on Gross Value Added (GVA) of each market’s financial services sector, as a way to circumvent the limitations of GDP in capturing the underlying nuances of a market’s context.