Invest in financial services in Yorkshire & Humber

The combined banking, insurance, financial & business services sector employs over 345,000 people in Yorkshire & Humber, and contributes 22.6% of the region’s GDP.

Yorkshire Forward is encouraging more businesses to invest in financial services in Yorkshire & Humber: visit the Invest in Yorkshire website.

Leeds: the UK’s second centre

As the capital of our region, Leeds is also England’s second city for financial excellence, and the most important legal centre outside London. 24% of Leeds’ employees (that’s 100,000 people) work in this sector. In Leeds alone there are 110 insurance companies, 200 accounting firms and 150 law firms, as well as 30 financial call centres.

Banking and finance

Our region is home to 30 national and international banks, and is an important centre for equity, venture and risk finance. 182 private-equity managers are based here, as is YFM, the UK's largest provider of risk capital to SMEs.

Legal services

Our region has 1,700 legal firms—that’s a whopping 13% of the UK’s legal services workforce. Five of the big-six Leeds law firms collectively employ 2,000 people. Average salaries across the financial and professional services sector are up to 12% lower than the UK average, offset by a great environment and excellent quality of life.

Telephone delivery

Since our region has the largest concentration of call centres in the UK, Leeds is also the leading city in the UK for telephone-delivered banking and related financial services, including insurance, credit and outsourced management services. The city’s call centres employ up to 8,000 people in financial and related services, plus another 20,000 in call-centre operations outside of this sector.

Elsewhere in Yorkshire

In South Yorkshire, 20,000 people work in telephone-delivered banking and related financial services, with over 3,000 government employees already here and more to follow. York is home to the head office of UK life-insurance company Norwich Union Life, as well as a BT customer service centre and directory assistance centre, collectively employing some 4,000 people. The CPP Group has also expanded its operation in York, now employing over 1,500 people.