London
Beginning with a flagship centre in Tower Hamlets, the Academy will occupy specialist premises within Tower Hamlets College from 2007. The initial focus will be on supporting employers in the City, Canary Wharf and East London.
London dominates the financial services industry, accounting for more than a third (38 per cent) of total output. In the five years between 1999 and 2004, financial services output in the capital grew by 10 per cent a year, outpacing the rest of London’s economy.
The region’s share of employment is substantially smaller, at 28 per cent, than its share of output, suggesting that productivity is much higher in the region than in the rest of the UK.
This is mostly because wholesale activity, where productivity is substantially higher than in retail financial services, is centred on the City and Canary Wharf, accounting for 57 per cent of all employment in the region.
Wholesale financial services are not the only type of activity concentrated in London. The City is a focus for all financial services sectors, as is Canary Wharf, with the exception perhaps of insurance.
Extensions to the City, specialising in auxiliary services and financial advice, include Southwark and Islington and a great deal of employment in non-life insurance is concentrated around Croydon.
In fact, clustering is key to the capital’s advantage. Financial services in the Greater London region are far more clustered than in the rest of the UK, with the four areas mentioned accounting for more than two-thirds (68 per cent) of all financial services employment.