Lanarkshire's people understand the importance of good service and commercial skills. The region is home to a total of 28 financial services companies, who, together, employ 10 000 people, accounting for 6% of total employment in this sector in Scotland. Lanarkshire is a successful base for leading financial brands such as Kwik Fit Insurance Services, Morgan Stanley, First Direct and HSBC.
Lanarkshire offers cost effective, out of town locations offering city amenities, for contact and customer service centres.
Local Skills
The Lanarkshire workforce is highly qualified in this sector, further enhanced by a graduate population with foreign language skills. In-comers frequently list ease of recruitment and the ability to secure skilled staff as a key motivator choosing a Lanarkshire location. Companies are attracted by flexible premises, tenures and skilled workers. Yell, NCR and beCogent have all chosen Lanarkshire.
‘It was a big choice to base our Operations Centre in Lanarkshire. We conducted a lot of research and chose Lanarkshire because its people offered the right skills and the right work ethic. It was important that we were well placed for connections to the rest of the UK and Lanarkshire could hardly be better. We're right on the motorway and rail networks and close to everything that a city like Glasgow can offer.
Six years on and our choice has been more than validated; Lanarkshire is a great base. The quality of our team means that we can provide a first class service to our customers and this has enabled us to create growth in a very competitive market. I'm not convinced that we would have been this successful anywhere else.'
Colin Rutherford, Director of Operations, Morgan Stanley.
Five local colleges in Lanarkshire offer a range of courses relevant to the financial services sector.
- Financial and business services companies that have located in Lanarkshire have benefited from tailored staff development programmes delivered by the local colleges.
