Finance industry stays on the money

Abid to keep new talent joining Scotland’s financial services industry has been launched. It features a range of measures aimed at helping employers develop workforce skills and encourage new talent.

Themes of the Skills Investment Plan include the continued growth of apprenticeships and work-based learning in financial services, the growing importance of digital skills and better links between education and the sector.

The 2,700 financial services businesses based in Scotland contribute £8.9 billion annually to the nation’s economy, employing 86,000 people.

Productivity is more than twice that of Scotland’s overall average, with each person in the sector contributing an average of more than £100,000 per year.

Jim Lindsay, former chief executive of Airdrie Savings Bank and chairman of the Financial Services Advisory Board Skills Group, said: “The foundation for Scotland’s global reputation in financial services is the talent and commitment of the people working in our industry.

“Maintaining and enhancing this reputation demands a proactive approach that identifies the needs of employers both now and in the future and explores how those needs should be met.

“This is no easy task in a rapidly changing environment.

“But the Skills Investment Plan helps the industry engage with the skills system and ensure that foundation remains strong.”

Skills Development Scotland, a national body that organises skills training, helped pull together the report.

Gordon McGuinness, its director of industry and enterprise, said: “For the future of our financial services industry it’s important people are aware of the many career options the sector has to offer.

“There is now a greater variety of routes into the sector.

“It is by continuing to work closely with the education and skills system in this way that Scotland’s financial services industry has the best chance of being able to grasp opportunities for growth.”

The number of modern apprentices linked to financial services has increased by 57% since 2013-14.

Numbers employed in the sector are also forecast to continue growing.

By 2022 there is expected to be 47,500 job opportunities in the industry, comprising 11,600 new jobs and 35,900 opportunities created by people leaving the sector.

An increasing proportion of these opportunities are expected to be managerial, professional and technical roles, continuing trends from recent years.

The plan is available to download at www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk

There’s a great variety of routes into the sector

Peter Griffiths, chief executive of Sainsbury’s Bank with Lesley Laird, Depute Leader of Fife Council, at the opening of the bank’s new contact centre in Rosyth. A new plan is hoping to build on the future of the finance industry in Scotland.