Financial & Professional Services

Financial & Professional Services

Financial and Professional Services Welcome to Wales Wales is home to some of the world s biggest names in the financial and professional services (F&PS) sector. Businesses benefit from our low operating costs, our loyal, productive and highly skilled people and our competitive property, digital and transport infrastructure. Wales makes business sense for any operation. As a committed part of the United Kingdom, Wales is able to offer a politically stable and supportive business environment, within the EU, from which to operate. At the same time, as a devolved administration, we have the advantage of accessible Ministers who have a real passion to support the growth of our economy. The Welsh Government provides confidential advice and support for potential investors covering areas that include: property; financial support; and skills and training. Why Wales? With over 150,000 people employed in the F&PS industry across Wales already, finding staff won t be an issue. Eight universities producing 42,000 graduates each year (with 130,000 students enrolments) Talented labour pool supplemented by specialised and tailored training by our academic institutions Ease of access to key decision-makers in the Welsh Government Up to 1 million sq ft of new Grade A offices currently under construction to support the industry Exceptional quality of life complemented by a low cost of living Key business hubs located at the confluence of major road and rail networks Comparative salaries in Wales are 89.5% of the UK average (compared with London at 129%) (Robert Half 2015 Salary Guide) Grade A commercial property costs averaging 22 per sq ft compared to 58.50 per sq ft in the City of London (BNP Paribas Real Estate 2014) Flexible financial incentives and training support available 1 Find out more at our website here http://business.wales.gov.uk/zones/financial-professional-services

Wales: Our business community A selection of companies already operating in Wales; 2

Financial and Professional Services Sector Strengths Insurance Wales quality and range of insurance skills is underpinned by the many insurance firms that have chosen to operate from here, including FTSE 100 company Admiral Insurance Group. The Admiral Group is headquartered in Cardiff and employs over 5000 people across south Wales. In addition to Admiral, dedicated insurance firms like Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, Atradius, Bluefin Group, Cunningham Lindsey, DAS UK (ERGO Group), ERS, Thomas Carroll Group and Zurich all have significant operations in Wales. There are over 10,000 people employed in insurance services in Wales and 2,270 are members of the Chartered Institute of Insurance. Salary ranges for a Senior Underwriter (0-5 years) are between 28,000 and 45,000 in Wales, compared to 41,000 and 65,000 in London (Reed Salary Guide 2014) Knowledge Process Services Some of the world s most recognisable names across various industry sectors have chosen Wales as the talented and cost effective base from which to support their head office operations. Many of these centres have a global remit serving their global clients direct. Deloitte Global Risk Assessment Centre 400 employees and growing The Centre delivers a range of risk and compliance support services to the firm s global network of offices and clients, from tax and audit to corporate finance and due diligence services. Cardiff successfully won the project over a number of UK and overseas locations, including India and Poland. Deloitte has recently announced plans to expand by a further 700 people in Cardiff as a result of demand for risk and compliance services. Law Law firms have long recognised the benefit of operating in Wales, with world renowned firms like Eversheds choosing their Cardiff base to consolidate operations making it the company s second largest office globally after its headquarters in London. Wales is a cost effective and talented base for legal process outsourcing with firms like Lewis Silkin; Capital Law; Hugh James/Involegal and Geldards all servicing their London and global activities from Cardiff. Wales shares a legal system with England and has over 3,700 qualified lawyers practising English law, contrasting with those in Scotland and Northern Ireland that practise Scots law and Northern Ireland law respectively. 8000 people employed across the breadth of legal activities in Wales. 15,000 qualified paralegals in Wales to support Wales growing expertise to support outsourced legal services activities. Five law schools in Wales (with Cardiff University and Swansea University amongst the UK s top law schools) producing 1,900 graduates each year along with 4,500 enrolments. The talented legal labour pool is supplemented by tailored legal training offered by our universities in the fields of Intellectual Property Law; Conveyancing Law; Procurement Law; Medical Law; Maritime Law; Property Law and Corporate Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Typical salaries for a newly qualified practitioner in Wales is 32,000 per annum, compared to 61,000 per annum in the City of London (Hays Salary Guide 2014). 3

Skills Our universities and colleges have over 315,000 students (Source: HESA 2012) producing the next generation of talented and enthusiastic workers to support ambitious and growing companies. Our academic institutions are innovative and flexible, and tailor programmes and train staff to meet the needs of local companies. The Medical Underwriting Academy was developed by Cardiff University and Legal & General to train new underwriters and improve the skills and knowledge of its existing underwriters and medical claims specialists. Legal & General s medical underwriting team is now the largest in Europe, and is continuing to expand and develop. Bangor University s Business School is ranked ahead of the likes of Princeton, Yale and the Harvard Business Schools for its banking research in the current US RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) survey. Bangor s Business School is the only institution globally to offer the Chartered Banker MBA, a qualification that provides the dual award of a top MBA in banking and finance and professional Chartered Banker status. The Centre for Supply Chain, Operations & Procurement Excellence (C-SCOPE) at the University of South Wales is accredited as a CIPS (Chartered Institute of Procurement and and Supply) Centre of Excellence. The Centre is one of the biggest in the UK, and dedicated to developing innovative strategies and practical solutions to address business problems in the management of the end-to-end supply chain. The National Skills Academy for Financial Services recognises Wales as one of the UK s fastest growing locations for financial services, and is helping companies here train their next generation of staff. The Academy s strategy in Wales is endorsed by its local employer group (the Welsh Financial Services Employers Group) whose members include senior representatives from companies such as Admiral, Atradius, Cunningham Lindsey, Deloitte, AJ Gallagher, Legal & General and Lloyds Bank. Admiral Global headquarters 5000 employees Admiral group is a FTSE 100 company, worth over 4billion, that is headquartered in Cardiff. Admiral has grown organically from 60 staff to 5,000 staff over the last twenty years and it has recruited locally to fill those posts. Admiral have benefitted from the local talent pool with 20% of their front line staff being graduates from the local Universities. Admiral have recently moved to a purpose-built, 220,000 sq ft grade A office building in the middle of Cardiff s business district 4

Financial and Professional Services Lower operating costs Wales offers excellent talent and some of the most competitive salary and property costs in the United Kingdom. Comparative salaries in Wales are 89.5% of the UK average (compared with London at 129%) (Robert Half 2015 Salary Guide). The median salary in Wales capital, Cardiff ( 21,570), is considerably lower than in London ( 30,115) and lower than the majority of UK core cities. The average Graduate salary in Wales ( 23,150) is around 20% lower than the UK average ( 29,000). In addition, recent research by the Welsh Contact Centre Forum shows that staff attrition rates in Wales up to half those in the rest of the UK. Grade A occupancy costs are as little as 60% of Central London costs Source: BNP Paribas Real Estate, 2014 Additional London } cost Cardiff cost Creditsafe UK Headquarters 200 employees and growing Creditsafe is a multinational provider of on-line company credit information. The company originally set up its first UK operation in London in 2000, but found that high operating costs and a lack of quality staff were holding it back. After looking at several locations in the UK and Europe, Creditsafe turned to Wales. The move proved to be extraordinarily successful, as company turnover increased by 450% within the first 12 months of setting up in Wales. Creditsafe sees the move to Wales as the best strategic decision the company has made, transforming how it does business. 5

Infrastructure Transport Situated within easy reach of major road, rail, air and sea transport hubs, Wales is ideally placed to support international business operations and provide access to your clients, no matter where they may be. By road, the M4 motorway connects south Wales to London in 2 hours making it an ideal location to service London based companies; whilst the M56 motorway connects North Wales to cities based in the North of England such as Manchester. A 1billion investment to the rail network will see the journey time by rail from Cardiff to London reduced to 1 hour 45 minutes by 2017, whilst the implementation of Crossrail will see Cardiff connected to Canary Wharf in just 2 hours by 2018. South Wales is 2 hours from Heathrow airport and will have a direct rail connection by 2021. Cardiff International Airport is 30 minutes from Cardiff city centre and offers direct and onestop flights to hundreds of destinations. Digital Businesses in Wales can benefit from some of the most advanced digital infrastructure in Europe, and our strategic investment programme will continue to improve services. IXCardiff is Wales dedicated Internet Exchange Point (IXP) that reduces latency, improves network resilience and ensures faster connectivity for local Internet users. Cardiff is one of only five UK cities with an Internet Exchange. Superfast Cymru is our national rollout programme to deliver fast fibre broadband to 96% of homes and businesses by 2016, with the final few percent of premises serviced though a flexible package of support and a mixture of technologies. Discussions are underway to make Wales an internationally connected destination by linking to transatlantic cables connecting the UK to the rest of the world. Next Generation Data (NGD) Centre (one of Europe s largest and most technically advanced green data-centres) and BT Data Centre both provide secure and resilient options for data storage. NGD have quoted a potential saving of 10m at NGD compared to London on a 10,000 ft 2 data centre. BBC Finance Centre of Excellence 230 employees The BBC Finance Centre of Excellence (BBC CoE) is responsible for the entire BBC network and its platforms Television, Radio and Online. In 2006 the BBC consolidated all their financial functions in Cardiff. Apart from office space and a talented workforce available, relocating to Cardiff reduced their operating costs by 50%. The BBC CoE will shortly move to brand new Grade A offices within 2 minutes walk of Cardiff s main rail station, right in the middle of Cardiff s city centre, taking advantage of both the excellent transport and digital infrastructure available.. 6

Financial and Professional Services Supporting your growth Continued Support as well as support to reduce transition difficulties, we will be able to provide continued assistance to your operations once you are here. When you invest in Wales you can benefit from our generous support and financial assistance. Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) Grants RSA is a grant scheme supporting investment and job creation. Assistance is available based on a contribution of capital expenditure for a project and/or the number of new jobs created by the project. Training Grants government financial assistance is available to companies with training and upskilling costs. Inward Visits we can organise a visit to Wales for you to assess our business environment first hand. Property Support our property teams can advise and identify suitable property based on your requirements. Tesco UK Shared Service Centre 1,000 employees Tesco originally set up its centre in Cardiff to deliver back-office services for payroll, pensions and benefits for their huge workforce, but it has since extended its remit to include the delivery of more front-line services to its customers nationwide. Apart from being the nerve centre for the company s Clubcard scheme, it deals with several key customer relations functions including all UK customer service calls, the Tesco Technical Support helpline for IT and other electrical equipment bought at the company s stores, and inquiries related to Grocery Home Shopping, the largest online shopping facility in the world. The growth of the centre is partly attributed to the support Tesco has received from Welsh Government, with officials being on hand to regularly advise, inform and assist everything from training support to car parking issues. Tesco meets a designated Welsh Government officer at least every six months to receive briefing on new initiatives and to provide feedback on their experiences of being in Wales. 7 Find out more at our website here http://business.wales.gov.uk/zones/financial-professional-services

Cardiff Offering everything you d expect from a Capital City and some. Cardiff is in every sense a Capital City with an enviable reputation for its business community, modern infrastructure, international culture and lifestyle choices which rank amongst the best in Europe. Crucially it s also safe, friendly and very affordable three key attributes for a contemporary city. Growing from its roots as one of the world s biggest maritime trade cities, Cardiff is the UK s fastest growing city for financial and professional services. Why Cardiff? Strategic near-shoring location for London based companies at less than two hours away Over 79,000 people employed in the F&PS industry across the city region 1.6million people within a 45 minute commute of the city centre Home to three universities (including Cardiff University, ranked 5th in the UK for research excellence in the 2014 REF exercise), together producing 70,000 graduates each year, with 7,700 of those F&PS graduates. Home to an Internet Exchange one of only four outside London 1billion commitment to improve both the local rail networks and the city s links to London Direct rail connection to Heathrow airport to be completed by 2021 Best city in the UK for workforce loyalty with turnover averaging at c5% A truly multi-cultural city with some 94 languages spoken in the city Low cost of living average cost of living is lower than London, Edinburgh and Belfast Significant advantages available in terms of both labour and property costs Home to one of Europe s largest and most advanced data centres in NGD (Next Generation Data) offering 10million of potential savings compared to London on a 10,000 sq ft data centre. Atradius UK & Ireland Headquarters 500 employees Atradius is a leading global trade credit insurer, with a 31% market share and annual turnover in excess of 1.5 billion. With access to credit information on 100 million companies worldwide, the company makes more than 20,000 trade credit limit decisions daily. Atradius was one of the first companies to recognise the potential of Cardiff as a centre of excellence for financial and professional business services, where they now employ around 500 people. The company values the high quality lifestyle, and well educated and adaptable workforce, amongst the strengths of the Welsh capital. 8

Financial and Professional Services Quality of Life Wales provides a great quality of life. Our unique geography means our beautiful landscapes are all easily accessible from our towns and cities. Wales plays host to some of Europe s most prestigious major events from sport to the arts to international affairs. Our capital city, Cardiff, is one of the UK s highest rated cities for quality of life, and its rapidly changing skyline reflects its spectacular economic growth over the last 10 years. Cardiff offers a unique and inspiring mixture of urban vibrancy, water side living and country relaxation, with breath-taking mountains and beaches just a few miles away from the city centre. The average all property price in Wales is significantly lower than the average in England or Scotland including executive housing. Cost of living is also very low, with Wales some c20% lower than the UK average (Key Retirement Solutions 2013), and c40% lower than London (Expatistan Cost of Living Index, September 2014). Cardiff is the epitome of cool. Lonely Planet Travel Guide Wales has the best beach in the UK with Rhossili Bay. TripAdvisor 9

To find out more contact the Welsh Government: Email: financial.services@wales.gsi.gov.uk Tel: +44 (0)3000 6 03000 Web: http://business.wales.gov.uk/zones/financial-professional-services Join our group WG25239 Crown copyright 2015