US Export Plan - Sector Report - Financial and BS

Overview

Scotland’s financial and business services sector is a key contributor to the national economy, with 145,000 people employed in the financial sector, and GVA of £14.3 billion. It is also one of Scotland’s largest export sectors, with significant overseas sales.^[1] Scotland’s financial services community is made up of over 2,000 businesses, ranging from long-established institutions to start ups, and from locally focused service providers to globally minded companies. In this report, the financial and business services sector encompasses areas such as banking, asset management, insurance, and professional services. FinTech is covered as a separate sector.

Scotland has a long-standing heritage in the sector and boasts businesses that have built a global reputation for credibility and deep expertise in their subsectors. This is reinforced by strong academic links between business and leading universities and research centres, ensuring a continuous pipeline of talent as well as innovation through collaborative research.^[2] As a result, Scotland remains highly competitive in the global marketplace across both traditional finance areas such as asset management, banking, and insurance, as well as burgeoning service areas like digital finance and sustainable banking.

Edinburgh is Scotland’s leading financial centre, with key strengths in banking and investment management, employing 57,290 people across the overall financial and related professional services industry. Glasgow employs 34,800 people in the sector, with more activity in insurance, asset management and legal services. Other regions, such as Fife and Aberdeen, are also recognised as important financial hubs, each employing over 5,000 people in the industry.^[3]

Scotland’s wider service sector has also shown strong recent growth in key areas, and growth expectations have rebounded to the strongest for nearly four years, supported by reducing concerns about the impact of US tariffs on client demand.^[4] Looking at financial and business services more widely, the sector employed roughly 228,000 individuals in 2024, representing 8.6% of total employment in Scotland, and 6.6% of employees in the sector across Great Britain. Total exports from the Financial and Business Services sector stood at £14.5 billion in 2021, accounting for 18.1% of Scotland’s total exports. In March 2025, there were 22,370 registered enterprises operating in the Financial and Business Services sector, representing 12.8% of all registered business in Scotland. In 2025, 96.8% of Scottish Financial and Business Services registered enterprises were small (0-49 employees), accounting for 29.8% of employment in this sector, whilst large enterprises (250+ employees) accounted for 1.4% of registered enterprises but 58.9% of employment.^[5]