US Export Plan - Sector Report - Financial and BS

Industry trends

Scotland’s financial and business services sector is positioned for steady growth aligned with trends in the respective subsectors Scotland excels in. Growth will also be enabled through increases in productivity and technology innovation and adoption, and the sector growth strategy, developed by Scottish Financial Enterprise with support from Scottish and UK government and industry bodies, aims to unlock an additional £7bn of GVA by 2028^[6]. Subsector growth ambition includes an aim to increase assets under management in Scotland’s financial services sector to £1 trillion by 2030.^[7]

Financial and business services trends across the globe are being shaped by technology, and the talent to implement technology for competitive advantage. Increasingly companies that are not able to compete in this regard are not only struggling to expand but are losing ground in core markets. Many forecasts expect this trend to gain pace, for example, Capgemini expect financial services be delivered three times faster and at a fraction of today’s cost within three years, due to AI-driven automation and digital infrastructure upgrades.^[8] Scotland has strong capabilities in the critical technology areas that are already shaping the sector for the future both in Scotland and in export markets like the US, including data, AI and machine learning. However, while there is a strong pipeline of talent coming through Scotland’s education system, there have been some concerns around retaining some top-tier talent within the country.^[9]