Study hails capital as second cash richest city

Edinburgh is the second cash richest city in the UK according to a study out yesterday looking into the amount of cash present in business bank accounts.

The report said the Scottish capital, with £16.9 billion in business bank accounts, is second to London in terms of cash-rich UK cities, the latter having £274.5bn in accumulated cash.

The study, compiled by Duedil, the private company information platform, says that after London, Scotland is the richest area of the UK.

Making up the top five richest UK cities are York, with £13bn of cash; Manchester with £9.6bn; and Birmingham, with £5.7bn. Damian Kimmelman, founder and CEO of Duedil, said: “Our findings suggest businesses might be reserving money for a rainy day, perhaps amid uncertainty ahead of Brexit.”

He said after last week’s interest rate rise, the boost in reserves will also “provide a cushion to businesses looking to grow as the cost of borrowing increases”.