Key facts about UK-based financial and related professional services 2021

Report summary:

The UK-based financial and related professional services industry has always supported individuals and businesses in their day-to-day activities through familiar services like saving, helping people buy a home, and business lending. The 2021 update of our annual 'Key facts about UK-based financial and related professional services' report provides a snapshot of the quantifiable value of the industry to UK society and businesses by using historical annual data to demonstrate its indispensable economic contribution. It shows how the industry’s traditional services models are evolving, how employment and economic output has increased in recent years and also highlights the role it has played in supporting businesses through the Covid-19 crisis and how it has continued to service the demand for its products and services.

1 in 14

workers in the UK work in financial and related professional services. That's over 2.13 million people

Two thirds of this employment is based outside London

Financial services have almost 1.1m people in employment

banking - 388,000

insurance - 311,000

fund management - 61,000

other financial services account for 319,000

Related professional services have over 1.2m people in employment

management consultancy - 510,000

accountancy - 404,000

legal services - 350,000

UK-based financial and related professional services generated a trade surplus of £77.9bn - more than the combined surplus of all other surplus-generating industries in the UK

UK financial services contributed

£75.6bn

in tax revenue in 2019/20 which accounted for 10.1% of total tax receipts and was equivalent to 3.4% of UK GDP

Financial and related professional services contributed 

£194.2bn 

of UK gross value added (GVA), representing £10 of every £100 of economic output

Enhancing customer experience through digital financial services:

The number of cheque payments declined by 78% over the last decade to £272 million in 2019

The use of online banking increased from 30% in 2007 to 76% in January to February 2020

50% of the population used banking apps in 2019

Contactless payment transactions reached £8.6bn in 2019, up 16% from 2018

£529.9bn

total loans made available by major banks to UK businesses in 2020

KF16