Where are Finance Jobs Based in the UK?

The City of London

Oddly-shaped glass skyscrapers and throngs of suit-clad people make up one of the capital’s most recognisable and influential districts. The City of London is known as one of the biggest places to do business worldwide.

The world’s largest global banks, professional services and financial services firms have offices in the Big Smoke. It consistently ranks as one of the top international hubs, in close contention with New York City and now Singapore and Hong Kong.

The pace of work and life is very fast-paced, and some of the salaries on offer here are the highest in the UK. London offers opportunities for careers in almost every area of business and finance there is.

Scotland

Edinburgh and Glasgow front one of the largest financial hubs in the UK outside of London. Many of the global companies based in the City also have offices here, and there is the potential to enter into many of the different industry areas. Four major insurance companies have headquarters in Scotland.

The North of England

There’s a lot to be said for the UK financial scene up North too! There are several cities in this region that are thriving with finance roles to offer graduates.

·         North West – Manchester is a huge centre for financial services outside of London. Over 60 banks have operations there which makes its England’s biggest regional corporate finance and stockbroking centre. Asset management, wealth management, retail banking and pensions are all big business in this region; Merseyside boasts real strengths in wealth management.

·         North East – Accountancy and mortgage lending are specialist areas in the North East, with most jobs concentrated in Newcastle.

Yorkshire and the Humber

Yorkshire offers the UK’s largest centre for banking outside of London in the city of Leeds. The region offers strengths in stockbroking, retail banking, corporate banking, insurance, accountancy and even venture capital.

The Midlands

·         East Midlands – Nottingham, Leicester, Northampton and Derby are all cities to check out for finance roles. Nottingham is the biggest financial centre in the region.

·         West Midlands – Birmingham is the first port of call for finance jobs in this region as the second largest city in the UK.

The South of England

With close proximity to London, the South of the country also thrives on financial services as one of its biggest sectors of employment.

·         South West – Bristol is a notable location in the South West for finance careers, with a big focus on banking and insurance. Bournemouth is also worth checking out.

·         South East – Reading, Brighton and Milton Keynes offer big concentrations of financial services jobs, with core areas in management consulting, retail banking and insurance.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland also has plenty to offer in terms of finance roles, in particular within operations (middle office and back office functions).

Wales

Unsurprisingly, Cardiff is the main financial hub in Wales, with strengths in professional operations and operations in particular. Swansea and Newport also offer a number of jobs in various different areas of the financial industry.