Financial services firm bringing 100 jobs to the capital
A GLOBAL financial services business is opening an office in Cardiff, creating more than 100 jobs in the capital.
Aon is a professional services firm which focuses on consulting across risk, retirement and health.
Headquartered in London, it operates in 120 countries worldwide and employs about 50,000 globally.
The Cardiff office, which will be at 2 Callaghan Square, will become the base for the company’s UK Affinity business.
Affinity includes Aon’s consumer business and also specialises in developing, marketing and administering customised insurance programmes and speciality market solutions for organisations and their members or affiliates.
Affinity MD Martyn Denney said: “Cardiff has a strong and vibrant insurance and financial services sector with excellent customer service capability, which were key factors in the decision to open an office in the city. We’re delighted to be able to bring our business to Wales.”
The move has been backed with Welsh Government support.
Aon joins an impressive list of financial services companies with branch or head offices in Cardiff, including Admiral, Go Compare, Deloitte, Legal & General, Principality, LLoyds Banking Group, car insurer MotoNovo Finance and credit insurer Atradius.
The city has had one of the fastest growing financial services sectors in the UK over the past two decades. Estimates for the number of people who work in the sector in the city vary from as low as 20,000 to more than 46,000, depending on how widely the definition of financial and professional services is drawn.
Even the lower figure makes it the seventh largest city in the UK for financial services employment, behind Edinburgh, Manchester and Sheffield but ahead of Belfast and Sheffield.
It was designated a financial centre of excellence by the UK Government in 2015, one of eight such centres outside London.
The financial services-focused enterprise zone in the city centre was created in 2012 and is a vehicle for the provision of training grants to businesses.
The city has also spawned a healthy number of young start-up businesses in the sector, including robo investment firm Wealthify and Delio.
Aon grew out of the merger of two American insurance businesses – Combined Insurance and Ryan Insurance, which came together in 1982. The new company was renamed Aon in 1987.
Now headquartered in London, it is listed on both London and New York stock exchanges and recorded revenues of £8.5bn in 2016.
Between 2010 and 2014 the company was principal shirt sponsor for Manchester United in a deal said to be worth £80m over four years.
One reason for the success of the sector in Wales is the availability of talented staff. Access to training and employability projects such as the Welsh Financial Services Graduate Programme is enabling the sector in Wales to retain local graduate talent.
Economy Secretary Ken Skates said: “At the heart of our recently-launched national strategy Prosperity for All: economic action plan is a commitment to develop a new and dynamic relationship between government and business based on the principle of public investment with a social purpose.
“The quality of life enjoyed by people living and working in Cardiff has long been recognised by employers; excellent road, rail and air connections coupled with genuinely affordable housing and top quality education and cultural facilities render Cardiff one of the most sought after locations in Europe for the financial and professional services sector.”
The news comes as another firm announces the creation of 70 jobs in South Wales.
Fast growing FEI Foods, which makes microwaveable rice, has recently invested in a new 250,000sq ft site in Llantrisant after securing a £19m funding facility from Lloyds Bank.
The Swansea-based manufacturer, which supplies own brand microwavable rice and grain products to supermarkets across the UK and Europe, will be opening the new site next year.
The move comes after the company has experienced a rise in customer demand over recent years, with sales rising significantly since 2010. In that time staff numbers have increased from 60 to 360.
Moving to the new premises at Llantrisant Business Park and investing in new machinery will double the company’s capacity. The increase in space will also enable the firm to boost investment in the research and development of new products.
Lloyd Williams, finance director at FEI Foods, said: “Moving to the new site will provide us with the additional space and capacity we need to continue on our impressive growth journey.”