Five firms in contention for SFE 2014 Awards

Owen Kelly: Wealth of talent to choose from. Picture: Neil Hanna

Run by Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE), sponsored by accountancy firm EY and supported by The Scotsman, they recognise successful nominations for their contribution to Scotland’s standing as a financial centre.

The shortlist this year includes former winner Aberdeen Asset Management, which recently became the biggest listed fund manager in Europe.

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Ashurst is in the mix after being nominated for being the first international law firm to open a legal sourcing and business support services operation in Scotland, while actuarial consultancy Hymans Robertson is being considered following almost 100 years of steady growth.

Nominated for creating “an imaginative addition to Scotland’s financial culture” is the Library of Mistakes, a free resource aimed at the financial sector.

And the launch of Tesco Bank’s current account helped it clinch a place in the final.

SFE chief executive Owen Kelly said: “The wealth of talent and initiative to choose from, both in the industry itself and among its varied support services, is always the biggest challenge for the judges.

“The strength of the Scottish financial services industry is rooted in its diversity and I am delighted to see this reflected in the range and depth of our finalists.”

He points out that Scotland’s traditional strengths in fund management, banking and pension planning are all strongly represented, together with a new international approach to legal services and an imaginative take on learning from past financial mistakes.

“All of our 2014 finalists deserve recognition for their outstanding contributions, whether for customers, education, business or society as a whole,” he added.

Peter Wallace, head of financial services at EY in Scotland, said: “Scotland’s financial services industry has once again found itself in the public eye over the past 12 months. The referendum focused attention on announcements made by institutions and individuals, highlighting the vital contribution the sector makes to the economic health of the country. It is the achievements of those institutions and individuals that the awards celebrate.”

Wallace said each finalist had shown “the time-honoured traits of the industry”: robustness, ingenuity and innovation.

This year’s awards dinner takes place on Thursday, 30 October, at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow.