Yorkshire is a top pick for finance investments - new EY survey

The county is only beaten by London and Scotland, making it the second most attractive in England after the capital.

Yorkshire and Humber recorded six projects in 2019 (which was double the total in 2018), moving it into third place from fourth in 2018. Five of the six projects were located in Leeds.

Suzanne Robinson, EY’s managing partner for Yorkshire & Humber, said: “It’s fantastic to see that Yorkshire has risen to the third most attractive UK destination for foreign direct investment in the financial services sector, with Leeds attracting over 80 per cent of the projects within the region.

“With gains also in the digital, business services and machinery & equipment sectors shown in earlier EY research, 2019 was a strong year for Yorkshire & Humber, seeing many modern sectors thriving in the region.”

She pointed out that the UK’s largest cities continue to account for the lion’s share of activity.

“We can’t be complacent and need to continue to work hard to ensure the whole region can attract investment,” she said.

“The devolution deal for West Yorkshire will help to ensure that we have more power to invest in our towns and communities, and today’s findings show us that more needs to be done to drive economic activity in the financial services sector outside of our core cities and spread the wealth for the benefit of everyone in the region.”

The report revealed that the UK retained its top spot for financial services investment in Europe and it is expected to outperform the Continent post Covid-19.

While UK project numbers were down 12 per cent from the year before (a drop of 13 projects), financial services FDI across the whole of Europe fell by 13 per cent from 2018, when Europe saw a record number of financial services FDI projects driven by firms opening new offices or restructuring in preparation for Brexit.

The UK has consistently been the number one location for financial services FDI for the last 20 years and 2019 was the third strongest year in the past decade. The UK registered more than double the projects of Germany, which came in second place with 43.

EY said that looking ahead, as markets across the globe deal with the impact of Covid-19, investor sentiment suggests that the UK is expected to outperform the rest of Europe in attracting post-pandemic financial services investment. Although sentiment is mixed, 40 per cent of investors believe the UK will be more attractive for financial services FDI post Covid-19, compared with just 8 per cent who believe Europe will be more attractive after the crisis.

Omar Ali, UK financial services managing partner at EY, said: “The UK has again performed strongly on financial services FDI and, crucially, should remain in a good position to continue attracting investment this year, despite the challenges posed by Covid-19 and a weaker economy.

“2018 saw record financial services FDI activity in Europe driven by the industry preparing for Brexit, so it was perhaps unsurprising that overall FDI projects in Europe and the UK dropped last year.”