City of London - Still Top Target For Foreign Investors

Alas – just what we’ve been looking for – some good news about Britain’s economic prospects. The City of London is still a top target for foreign investors

It appears amongst the gloom and doom we’ve read about over the last couple of months, in particular, London remains the world’s most popular destination for foreign investment in financial and professional services companies. Better still, it comfortably attracted more money than its peers in New York and Paris.

The Times reports that – “Last year, 114 investments totalling nearly £600 million were made in firms from those sectors based in the capital, according to figures published by the City of London Corporation, the governing body of the Square Mile.

Financial technology firms accounted for a third of the investment, while almost a fifth went to technology companies that support financial services businesses. London is well clear of its rivals. Dubai-based financial and professional services companies received 104 investments, compared with 103 for Singapore, 54 in New York and 53 in Paris.”

“Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the UK’s financial and professional services sector has proven resilient,” Vincent Keaveny, lord mayor of London, said. “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.”

It still remains a fact, even post-Brexit, with all the warnings that came with it – that Britain, (or more accurately, the City of London) is the second most popular country for financial and professional services investment in the world, behind the USA, the world’s biggest economy.