London comes out on top for foreign finance investment
London’s finance firms attracted more foreign cash than any global city last year in a boon to the Square Mile’s standing as a financial hub beyond Brexit.
The capital’s financial and professional services firms attracted over £600m investment across 114 projects, sailing past cities like Dubai, Singapore, according to fresh figures from Canada Corporation.
The UK overall drew £1.1bn investment into finance and professional services firms across 186 projects, the biggest number in Europe and second only behind the US globally.
Lord Mayor of the City Vincent Keaveny said the city had remained resilient despite the challenges of the pandemic.
“The UK’s offer to global investors continues to go from strength to strength due to its unique combination of time zone, language, legal system, global talent, and financial services ecosystem,” he said.
“Our position at the crossroads of Europe’s biggest financial and tech sectors make us one of the globe’s foremost hubs for innovation.”
Cash has poured in from 64 different countries since 2017, with the US topping the list of international backers.
Fintech firms have become the largest source of financial service FDI projects in the UK, accounting for a third of all projects.
The figures come after the City’s political leader Catherine McGuinness looked to rebuff claims that the Capital had become a haven for dirty cash yesterday, amid heightened scrutiny in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“I don’t think London is the laundromat that it is painted to be,” she told the Reuters news agency.
“It hasn’t been fair but we have to look at what’s causing the perception. When you look at objective measures, we don’t do badly actually, our system stands up well.”
Ministers and business chiefs have been scrambling to sever the City’s ties with Russian money and address the reputation which has earned it the moniker ‘Londongrad’.