Scaling new heights: Eyes of the world turn on flagship Scottish investment summit
“We really are a services superpower here in the UK and it’s something we should be shouting about” – Alastair King
Scotland’s pivotal role within the “superpower” that is the UK’s financial services sector will be at the fore in just a few weeks time when a flagship global investment summit comes to Edinburgh.
The event, set to take place on October 6 and 7, is supported by both the UK and Scottish governments and hosted by industry body Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE) and the venerable City of London Corporation. Organisers say the high-profile summit will focus on providing international investors with “unique insight and connections” to investible projects worth tens of billions of pounds in the key areas of life sciences, energy and renewables, and financial services.
The main event will be staged at NatWest’s Gogarburn campus following a launch at Edinburgh Castle on October 6, with some peripheral locations still to be confirmed.
It holds the promise of being a landmark gathering and one with some pretty bold aims, but Alastair King, the Scots-born Lord Mayor of the City of London, is confident that the “big international names” will be in the room on the day. The upcoming Scottish event comes off the success of a UK global investment summit staged last October south of the Border.
“I wanted to do something similar for Scotland during the course of my mayoral seat,” says King, who is the 696th person to hold the title and the first Scot in more than three decades to do so.
“We are looking at investment opportunities particularly in the scale-up area - companies seeking to raise between £5 million and £30m in their next fundraise. We are trying to attract all the big international names by way of the big funds from around the world. I think we have a good chance of getting those investors in the room.
“We really are a services superpower here in the UK and it’s something we should be shouting about,” asserts King, who hails from Aberdeenshire, and serves as a global ambassador for the UK’s financial and professional services industry during his period in office.
The summit forms a key part of his vision to unleash growth across the UK and will shine a spotlight on Scotland’s investment proposition, focusing on indigenous sector strengths including professional services, green energy and space. The primary audience for the event will be capital and foreign direct investors and, as well as showcasing examples of successful investments and the long-term attractiveness of Scotland as a location, it aims to demonstrate the strengthening bond that exists between industry and academia.
King is keen to highlight his wide-ranging remit, acknowledging that the title Lord Mayor of the City of London is something of a misnomer.
“It’s a nationwide role to represent around the world the 2.5 million people serving in those sectors,” he stresses. “It doesn’t matter where those services are rendered, whether that’s Edinburgh, Glasgow or London or Belfast.
“However, the City of London plays a totemic role in two ways - one is to attract foreign direct investment into those sectors and also to try to encourage British businesses in the financial services arena to be more ambitious and look for new horizons around the world.”
The Lord Mayor also points to the growth in overall headcount seen in the wake of Brexit, amid concerns that Britain, and London in particular, would suffer a brain drain as the UK parted its way with the EU.
“At the time of the Brexit referendum there were around 525,000 employed in the core financial district of London,” he notes. “Last time we counted at the back end of 2024 we were at 678,000. There has been a substantial increase. If you add in financial areas such as Canary Wharf and the west end you get up to an extraordinary figure of 883,000 people. There are a greater number of people working in financial and related professional services in Greater London than there are people in Frankfurt.”
King believes the summit will present a good opportunity to discuss artificial intelligence (AI), with the UK looking to capitalise on its head start over the rest of Europe.
“It always has to be seen as an opportunity,” he says. “People have been suspicious of every wave of new technology over the centuries and I don’t think this is going to be any different. If AI can handle an awful lot of the mundane stuff it would leave people to focus on the high-value and creative work.”
A recent study showed that Scotland had further strengthened its position as a top European financial and related professional services hub, supporting more than 150,000 people.
Industry body TheCityUK said the sector contributed £17.7 billion to the national economy - 10.5 per cent of Scotland’s gross value added (GVA) - in 2023, based on the latest available data. Some 151,000 people are employed in banking, financial and related professional services in Scotland, according to the organisation’s latest findings.
Partnership
Scotland is also rapidly becoming a leader in fintech - or financial technology - with more than 200 related companies based there - a density of fintech firms around 60 per cent greater than the UK average outside London.
SFE chief executive Sandy Begbie said: “It is fantastic to be working in partnership with the City of London Corporation on what will be a unique and impactful event for Scotland and our economy.
“Scotland has a global reputation for innovation and expertise but against a backdrop of increasing global competition, we must continue to work hard to demonstrate the appeal of our leading industries as a destination for investment.
“This summit will showcase the very best of Scotland’s leading industries to global investors and provide an opportunity to harness the dynamism and diversity of what Scotland has to offer.”
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