legal services in wales
TRANSCRIPT
Legal Wales
© Martin Hopkins – www.martinhopkins.co.uk
contents1 Introduction2 Wales: Key locations and
businesses4 Wales: The facts5 Skills and Academia6 Lower operating costs9 Transport Infrastructure10 Technology11 Supporting your growth plans12 Cardiff City Centre – Key Sites
14 Cardiff16 Central Cardiff Enterprise Zone17 A Great Environment for
Business and Leisure18 Cardiff: Room to grow19 Case Study: Cardiff Legal20 Case Study: OSTC21 Case Study: Deloitte
Cardiff, Wales… the fastest growing British city for financial services jobs
(source: FT, December 2012)
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IntroductionWales has had a track record for development and delivery of innovative law since the Laws of Hywel Dda which pre-date the Magna Carta by some 300 years. The future offers the opportunity for yet more innovation – with Wales being well placed to be a partner in your company’s growth.
Wales can offer you the skills you need, and the environment you want at a price that is very competitive indeed.
Wales is one of the United Kingdom’s best locations for financial and professional business services and the Financial Times has referred to Cardiff as being an essential near-shoring hub for the City of London.
Wales is a major centre for financial and professional services in the UK, and many companies have substantial operations here, including Eversheds and Blake Morgan.
As part of the United Kingdom, Wales offers businesses a politically stable and supportive business environment, within the EU, from which to operate and grow.
Wales is part of the global legal jurisdiction of English
Welsh law.
Why should Wales be at the top of your short-list?
• Very competitive labour and commercial property costs – up to 40% cheaper operating cost than London.
• There are 150,000 skilled people working in financial and professional business services in Wales. Source: ONS, Welsh Government and CityUK.
• Ease of access to key decision-makers in the Welsh Government with generous support packages available.
• 1.9 million people of working age, 32.6% of whom are qualified to at least degree level (NVQ4).
• With 31,000 financial and professional business services students in Wales, there is a constant supply of high quality graduates available. Source: HESA and Welsh Government.
• Construction has been completed on the first building, and others are underway, in the plan to deliver up to a million square feet of new Grade A offices in Cardiff and the Central Cardiff Enterprise Zone.
• Cardiff is one of the UK’s highest rated cities for quality of life, with areas of outstanding natural beauty on the doorstep, international sporting events, and one of the UK’s best retail offers.
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Major international financial and professional business services companies and universities are established throughout Wales, meaning that there is a wide variety of skills and expertise available to investors.
Key locations, major businesses (with employee numbers), transport hubs and cities are listed here. The list below is not exhaustive and is for reference only.
Aberystwyth Aberystwyth University
BangorBangor University
AccountisNatwestSecureTrading (30)Cardiff
Cardiff & Vale College – CILExCardiff University
(includes Cardiff Business School)Cardiff University – Julian
Hodge Bank Macroeconomic Centre
Cardiff Metropolitan University (includes Cardiff School of Management)
University of South Wales – Cardiff CampusAA (230)Acclimatise (20) AcuityAdmiral Group (5,000)Admiral Law (200)Alert Logic (65)Atradius (500)Barclaycard (580)Barclays (1,500)Blake Morgan (900)Brewin Dolphin (30)British Gas (1,700)Capital Law (115)Carbon Law Partners (HQ) (50)CGI (1,500)Conduit (1,000)Creditsafe Group (350)
Cunningham Lindsey (250)Deloitte (300)Dun & Bradstreet (50)Eversheds (536)First Source (850)Giles Insurance (120)GMAC (170)Greenaway ScottInvolegal & Hugh James LLP (500)Islamic Finance Centre (2)KPMG (80)Legal & General (1,200)Lloyds Banking Group (5,000)Network Rail (1,370)NewLaw (300)Price Waterhouse Coopers (250)Principality Building Society (1,300)Protectagroup (150)Royal Bank of Scotland (1570)Target Group Ltd (380)Tesco (1,000)Welsh Health Legal ServicesZurich Financial Services (50)Carmarthen
University of Wales, Trinity Saint DavidEwloeMoneySuperMarket (400)Lampeter
University of Wales, Trinity Saint David – Lampeter CampusCrickhowellNote Machine (220)CwmbranProxima Buying Team (50)
Merthyr TydfilEverything Everywhere (850)NewportGo Compare (200)Crown Commercial Services (50)Intellectual Property Office (850)Office of National Statistics (1,100)Shared Services Connected Ltd ISSC 2 (800)Pontypridd
University of South Wales – main campus (includes Centre of Excellence for Mobile Applications and Services)RhylSanlam (120)Valuation Office Agency (50)Swansea
Swansea Universityarvato (150)
University of Wales Trinity Saint David – CILEx and Law School Swansea CampusDVLA (5000)ERS Ltd (250)HPC WalesHSBC Direct (850)OSTC (150)Virgin Atlantic Airways (250)Wolfestone Legal Translation (23)Wrexham
Glyndwr UniversityAvox (250)Moneypenny (400)
Wales: Key locations and businesses
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Inset
CARDIFF
TREFOREST
CWMBRAN
CRICKHOWELL
MERTHYRTYDFIL
PONTYPRIDDNEWPORTSWANSEA
WREXHAM
BANGOR
RHYL
EWLOE
ABERYSTWYTH
LAMPETER
CARMARTHEN
Cardiff Airport
Anglesey Airport
ANGLESEY
SNOWDONIA
EBBW VALEHAVEN WATERWAY
CARDIFF CENTRAL
ST ATHAN-CARDIFF AIRPORT
DEESIDE
LONDONCANARY WHARF
CARDIFFCENTRAL from 2018, electrification will mean it is just a short 2 hours journey
Motorway
Trunk Road
Rail network
Airport
Ferry Port
Port
‘A’ area
Cardiff Capital Region
Non-predefined ‘C’ areas
Local Authority Boundary
ASSISTED AREAS 2014-2020
ENTERPRISE ZONES
© Crown Copyright and database right 2015.Ordnance Survey 100021874
Cartographics • Welsh Government • ML/124/15.16
A416
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A48
A470
A4161
A4160
A4232
A4232
Cardi� Inset
CITY CENTRECastleCastle
Millennium StadiumMillennium Stadium
City HallCity Hall
CITY CENTRE
Red Dragon Centre
County Hall
National Assembly for Wales
Wales Millennium Centre
CARDIFFBAY
Red Dragon Centre
County Hall
National Assembly for Wales
Wales Millennium Centre
CARDIFFBAY
CARDIFF CENTRAL
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Wales’ location within the UK is attractive as it is within the jurisdiction of England and Wales, offers some of the lowest staff and property costs in the country and a devolved, pro-business Government that makes Wales a great place for your business.
Wales benefits from a high level of skills, and a highly committed and productive workforce; all of which are recognised as proven commercial assets by the thousands of companies that have already invested here. Wales also offers flexible financial incentives and generous training support.
The UK is one of the leading business locations in the world and the number 1 destination for inward investment (FDI) in Europe (Source: UK Trade International). In addition, the UK is rated the best major location for ‘ease of doing business’ in Europe according to an independent assessment by the
World Bank that considered factors such as setting up and running a business, labour regulations and obtaining finance.
People: Wales is home to some 3 million people, 1.94m of working age, with 372,000 of those under 25. Wales is home to eight universities and over 130,000 students.
There are 150,000 people working in financial and professional business services in Wales across key industry sectors such as banking, insurance, legal services, accountancy, financial technology and shared service centre operations. Over 132,000 of those people work in the Cardiff Capital Region (metropolitan area); over 60,000 within the actual city itself.
Taxation: Like the rest of the UK, Wales has a business-focused tax environment that will become even more attractive, with corporation tax rate reducing to 20% in 2015 (source: UK Trade International), compared to 29% in Germany; 33% in France; 31% in Italy; 30% in Spain; 40% in United States and 38% in Japan in 2013 (Source: KPMG).
Business environment: Wales has the same legal system as England, EU membership, solid infrastructure and easy access to customers, suppliers and partners.
Wales: The facts
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With eight universities and 14 Further Education Colleges, Wales has a total of nearly 130,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, 31,000 of whom are studying financial and professional services and related disciplines. This means that excellent homegrown talent is available, in addition to the many hundreds of thousands studying at universities in the rest of the UK.
There are around 4,500 people studying law in universities in Wales, including at Cardiff University (recently received a Top 10 rating in the 2014 REF). In addition, there are 2,700 studying accountancy and over 12,000 studying Business and Management Studies. Source: Welsh Government statistics.
Skills and AcademiaWelsh Universities work in close partnership with businesses in the region to help develop the future employees they need to support their growth ambitions. Examples of recent collaboration include;
• Cardiff University provides Legal & General with a bespoke specialist Medical Underwriting Academy, which to date has helped to train over 100 of the firm’s staff. The Academy provides training through a mix of on-campus and on-line learning, visits to clinics and hospitals, discussion groups, and lectures. It has resulted in fewer referrals to medical specialists, saving time and money for the company, and making the location a centre of excellence.
• Bangor University’s School of Law has announced a partnership with the China University of Political Science and Lawin Beijing.
• The first Confucius Institute anywhere in the world to have a focus on Law was opened officially at Bangor University in 2012.
• The University of South Wales Glamorgan’s Centre for Financial and Professional Services has a state-of-the-art moot courtroom for simulated judicial proceedings, and an equity trading room, which recreates a modern trading floor, complete with screens featuring breaking news, stock market data and personal finance advice.
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Lower operating costs
Wales offers excellent talent and some of the most competitive salary and property costs in the United Kingdom.
Wales can supply the excellence you need at very competitive costs, in comparison to other UK locations.
Wales offers some of the best staff and the most competitive staff costs in the UK, with wages in Cardiff (Wales’s capital city) around 70% of those in London. The average graduate salary in Wales is 80% of the UK average graduate salary, making Wales a great place to grow your business.
And, with both low property costs and a lower cost of living, you can retain your staff better, saving you time and money on recruitment and management.
Wales is also subject to the same employment law as England, making recruitment consistent with your operations in London and England.
In addition, recent research by the Income Data Services 2013 shows that staff attrition rates in Wales can be half those in the rest of the UK.
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Salary Ranges (£) in selected roles
South Wales North West London(City)
Paralegal £15-£17k £18-£20k £22-£26k
Paralegal 2 + years £17-£20k £20-£25k £25-£38k
Legal Secretary £16-£21k £19-£25k £31-£36k
Legal PA £20-£23k £23-£28k £34-£40k
Legal Cashier £18-£25k £22-28k £25-£37k
Law Costs £30-£42k £35-345k £38-£55k
Account Manager £27-£35k £29-£40k £40-£53k
NQ £22-£36k £27-£38k £56-£68k
1yr PQE £25-£38k £28-£45k £62-£75k
2yrPQE £27-£39k £30-£46k £68-£83k
3yrPQE £32-£40k £33-£52k £76-£91k
4yrPQE £33-£42k £35-£54k £80-£98k
5yr PQE £38-£48k £38-£58k £86-£110k
6yrPQE + £45-£75k+ £48-£80k+ £90-£120+
Wales offers substantial savings compared to other UK cities, for example:
“Legal & General have been able to keep our costs under control because of our operation in Wales.”
Nigel Wilson, Group CEO, Legal & General
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Property
If you want to significantly reduce your costs, Wales also offers excellent and value for money property solutions, even for Grade A offices.
Salary Ranges (£) in selected roles
Job Title Qualification Salary £
Purchase Ledger / Bookkeeper 18,200
Sales Ledger / Ledger Clerk 16,000
Credit Controller 17,000
Payroll Clerk 19,000
Payroll Administrator 16,250
Payroll Manager 36,000
Head of Payroll 47,000
Accounts Assistant Part Qualified 22,000
Qualified Accountant 27,000
Small Team Manager 21,000
Financial Controller 40,000
Credit Manager 30,000
Head of Finance Shared Services 65,000
Document Production Specialist 22,000
IT Technical Support From £16k 1st Line to £30k 3rd Line
IT Solutions Design & Project Managers 40,000 – 45,000
Data Inputs assistant HR 16,000
HR Administrator 18,000
Senior HR Administration 35,000
Senior HR Advisor 33,000
Team Leader 35,000 – 40,000
Data Input assistant 21,000
Team Leader 28,000
Methodology
This salary guide is completed based on information gathered from July 2012 – July 2013 from newly advertised roles, recent job offers and candidate registrations.
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Transport InfrastructureTransport links and communications are key to any business
Wales offers excellent access to your clients throughout the United Kingdom and beyond via efficient road, rail and air networks.
Cardiff is about two hours from London Paddington by train, this is improving in 2018 to 2 hours Cardiff to Canary Wharf with the arrival of electrification and the new Hitachi Javelin trains and Crossrail. Discussions are underway on making some trains non-stop from Wales to Paddington station in London.
“Mark Langman, Network Rail’s route managing director, says: “Importantly, the electrification will not only reduce the travel time, but also allow for more capacity and more modern trains, which will improve the comfort of the journey to London and across the region.” To handle the anticipated increase in traffic and longer trains, Network Rail has also unrolled a £358 m scheme to modernise a number of stations in the region, including Cardiff’s two central stations.”
Drive Time Populations
People living within easy commute – see table.
City Population Working Age Working Age + 30 Minutes
Working Age + 45 Minutes
Cardiff 336,200 231,700 1,020,500 1,975,800
Newport* 140,400 88,500 1,660,400 2,560,600
Swansea 230,300 149,300 739,800 1,172,000
* These statistics include neighbouring English counties, including the city of Bristol.
Air
Cardiff International Airport, just a 25 minute drive from the centre of Cardiff, offers a wide and expanding range of domestic, European and worldwide services including over 50 direct destinations, and over 900 worldwide connecting flights. Destinations include Paris, Amsterdam, Munich and Dublin which offer onward, connecting, flights. The airport has recently been acquired by the Welsh Government, as part of its commitment to improving the infrastructure for Wales.
Average Rail Travel Times (Pre-Electification)
From Cardiff To:
Swansea 54mins
Newport 13mins
Bristol 48mins
Birmingham 2hrs
London (Paddington) 2hrs 7mins
From Wrexham To:
Chester 20mins
Manchester 1hr 55mins
Liverpool 1hr 25mins
Birmingham 1hr 42mins
Source: National Rail
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Technology
Wales is at the forefront of ICT developments within the UK. Businesses in Wales enjoy the advantages of:
• Advanced networks
• An internet exchange in Cardiff
• World-leading wireless broadband in Cardiff
The Welsh Government is committed to delivering world class business infrastructure. By mid 2016, all businesses in Wales will have access to Europe’s fastest Next Generation Broadband, offering speeds up to 80Mbps. Cardiff is a super-connected City benefitting from 80 – 100 Mbps broadband speed. Furthermore, Cardiff was one of the first cities’ in the UK to benefit from having 4G mobile data and an open air public WiFi network.
In addition, a new internet exchange is located in Cardiff’s Enterprise Zone, allowing businesses in south Wales to benefit from reduced latencies and possibly from reduced transit costs.
One of Europe’s largest and most technically advanced ‘green’ data-centres is located in a Welsh Government owned building in Newport, 10 miles from the centre of Cardiff. With a £200 million investment, Next Generation Data Centre (NGD) has created a market leading operation which is carrier neutral, has interconnect points for several major carriers and provides direct international connectivity to the US and the rest of the world. Cardiff is also home to a BT data centre which was purpose-built to support BT’s hosting and managed service options. The site hosts an estimated 12,000 servers.
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Supporting your growth plansFinancial Assistance
If you’re considering an investment that will result in the creation or safeguarding of jobs in Wales, you may be eligible for support from the Welsh Government. And when you invest in Wales you can benefit from some of the most generous financial assistance in the European Union.
Businesses can apply to our funding schemes for support, subject to meeting a number of criteria including the size of your organisation and location of the project.
From 1 July 2014 changes to European Union rules mean investment projects by large businesses (which are not small or medium sized enterprises*) will only be eligible if the project involves “new activity” or projects which involve diversification at an existing location.
For further information about support, including training support, please contact us at [email protected]
*As defined in the linked document: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/facts-figures-analysis/sme-definition/index_en.htm
SMARTCymru
Due to the digitisation of the legal sector, we provide discretionary support for the development of ICT systems. Funding is available for up to 45% of the costs, up to a maximum of £200,000.
Further information is available here.
Innovation Funding via experimental development fund
R&D Phase Small enterprise
Medium Enterprise
Large Enterprise Limits
Experimental Development
Up to 45% Up to 35% Up to 25% £200,000
SAT NAV: CF10 4BZCentral Rail Station
Central Bus Station
Café Quarter
St. David’s 2
John Lewis
New Footbridge
500 Space Car Park
University of South Wales
Queen Street Rail Station
Novotel Hotel & Gym
Radisson Hotel
Millennium Stadium
New Admiral HQ
Motorpoint Arena
ETAP Hotel
Number 1 Capital Quarter
Eversheds
ING
Maldron Hotel
Castle
Civic Centre
Callaghan Square
British Gas
Capital Law
Cineworld Cinema
Brookfield Utilities UK
Car Parks
1325
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To Cardiff Bay & M4 Motorway
To M4 Junction 29 VIRIDIS REAL ESTATE
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
To Cardiff Bay
TRAVEL TIMES
By foot:
Cardiff Central 6-9 minutes
Queen Street 6-9 minutes
City Centre 5-6 minutes
Cardiff Bay 12 minutes
By Bus:
Regular service on the Cardiff Bus
City Circle Routes 1 & 2.
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Prime Rent £psf Rates £psf Service Charge TOTAL
Cardiff 22 8 5 35
Leeds 25 10 5.5 40.5
Bristol 26.5 10 5 41.5
Glasgow 27 11 6 44
Birmingham (City centre) 28.5 10.75 6 45.25
Manchester 30 10 6 46
Edinburgh 29.5 11.5 6 47
London (Docklands) 37.5 16 9 62.5
London (City) 58.5 19 9 86.5
Source: BNP Paribas UK Total Occupancy costs – January 2014. Provides high level view of rents, rates and service charges for Grade A offices. Research carried out in January 2014.
SAT NAV: CF10 4BZCentral Rail Station
Central Bus Station
Café Quarter
St. David’s 2
John Lewis
New Footbridge
500 Space Car Park
University of South Wales
Queen Street Rail Station
Novotel Hotel & Gym
Radisson Hotel
Millennium Stadium
New Admiral HQ
Motorpoint Arena
ETAP Hotel
Number 1 Capital Quarter
Eversheds
ING
Maldron Hotel
Castle
Civic Centre
Callaghan Square
British Gas
Capital Law
Cineworld Cinema
Brookfield Utilities UK
Car Parks
1325
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53
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To Cardiff Bay & M4 Motorway
To M4 Junction 29 VIRIDIS REAL ESTATE
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
To Cardiff Bay
TRAVEL TIMES
By foot:
Cardiff Central 6-9 minutes
Queen Street 6-9 minutes
City Centre 5-6 minutes
Cardiff Bay 12 minutes
By Bus:
Regular service on the Cardiff Bus
City Circle Routes 1 & 2.
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2410
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© Martin Hopkins – www.martinhopkins.co.uk
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Cardiff
Cardiff has grown from its roots as one of the world’s biggest shipping ports, to become the UK’s fastest growing location for financial and business services.
Cardiff prides itself on three key values: Service, Commitment and Delivery. By delivering best in class service levels and a commitment to strive for perfection, Cardiff has a history of delivering success, be it in helping Admiral Insurance to grow from a small enterprise to a FTSE 100 multinational company, or convincing British Gas and Tesco to host UK-wide Customer Service operations here.
In Cardiff you’ll never be far from success.
Why should I shortlist Cardiff?
• It is already a strategic location for many businesses operating out of London and Wales is a key UK partner, shares a legal and regulatory system with England, enjoys EU membership, a secure environment, and easy access to customers, suppliers and partners.
• It offers skills comparable with that in London’s financial districts but comparable positions in Cardiff are up to 40% lower cost than London. (Source: PNB Paribas Real Estate 2014/ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2013).
• It offers Grade A office occupancy for about 40% of the cost of comparable sites in central London from c£35 per square foot including rent, rates and service charge.
Capital city, operational savings, attractive lifestyle choices and home to a business friendly devolved government.
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• It is the best city in the UK for workforce loyalty with turnover averages at c5% compared to our next closest rival at c12% (source; Income Data Services, 2013).
• Based on occupancy cost alone Cardiff can provide annual savings of nearly £1 million for a 50,000 square foot office, when compared with average London costs (Source: PNB Paribas Real Estate 2014).
• Access to almost 2 million people of working age all within a 45 minute commute from the city centre.
• There are 132,000 skilled people working in financial and professional business services in in the Cardiff Capital Region (metropolitan area) and over 60,000 within the actual city itself (Source: ONS workforce jobs by industry (SIC 2007: J-N, S). They work across key industry sectors such as banking, insurance, legal services, accountancy, financial technology and shared service centre operations.
• 70,000 students are enrolled in the city’s three universities, delivering 25,000 graduates each year in subjects such as Accounting, Banking, Economics and Law.
• It has one of Europe’s largest and most advanced data-centres on its doorstep and is also home to a BT data centre with 12,000 servers.
• A new Internet Exchange opened in the heart of Cardiff’s Enterprise Zone in December 2014, creating a further incentive for the financial and creative industries to set up their business in Cardiff. The new infrastructure will improve the internet speed for service providers, which will improve the ability of businesses based in the Welsh Capital to both work with and compete against London and other regions.
• A £1bn programme of rail improvements means Cardiff will be under 2 hours from London in 2018 and will have a direct connection to Heathrow airport by 2021.
• It is cheaper than London, Edinburgh or Belfast for the cost of living.
• Much of Wales is covered by Assisted Area status, so eligible companies relocating to Wales could benefit from financial support for capital investment, job creation, research, development and innovation and eligible revenue projects.
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Central Cardiff Enterprise Zone
Cardiff’s Enterprise Zone status is attracting major investment in infrastructure to see it become a leading business location, including:
• Much of the Enterprise Zone is covered by Assisted Area status. To identify the Tier status of a location, please see this map http://www.ukassistedareasmap.com/ieindex.html
• £15m Welsh Government investment to acquire 80,000sqft of Grade A office space. No. 1 Capital Quarter, opened in June 2014, helps improves the availability of Grade A space in the city.
• Cardiff’s new Internet Exchange opened in December 2014 – one of only three in the UK outside London.
• Investment in new electricity supplies and infrastructure, together with data storage capacity to meet the future needs of businesses in the zone.
• The construction of Number 2 Capital Quarter is underway and will incorporate 84,000 sq.ft of inspirational, Grade A, office space strategically situated in Cardiff’s Central Business District.
Each business will be allocated a dedicated point of contact to be introduced to the unrivalled package of support available through the Welsh Government.
The Enterprise Zone will build on Cardiff’s reputation as the fastest growing city in the UK for financial services.
Find out more at centralcardiffenterprisezone.wales.gov.uk
Central Cardiff Enterprise Zone (CCEZ) is a new 140-acre commercial centre in the heart of the city.
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A great environment for business and leisureWales delivers all of the quality of life you would expect and at a very competitive cost.
Wales has an area of approximately 21,000km2 – meaning plenty of space for you to explore, from 300km of beautiful coastline to rugged mountains.
We’ve got hundreds of castles in Wales, including Caerphilly castle, one of the largest castles in Europe, and Caernarfon Castle, one of Europe’s great
medieval fortresses.
You can enjoy major events, from international sport such as the Ryder Cup, and international rugby to international arts festivals such as Artes Mundi and opera at the Millennium Centre. Wales also has a Premier League football team.
The average “all property” price in Wales is significantly lower than the average in England or Scotland and the average price house in Wales is £167,000 – below that in England or Scotland. (Source: Office for National Statistics, House Price Index, June 2014)
Housing stock in Wales is wide and varied from city centre Victorian terraces to ultra-modern waterfront developments to hilltop farms.
The capital city of Wales, Cardiff, is one of the UK’s highest rated cities for quality of life, and its rapidly changing skyline reflects its spectacular economic growth over the last 10 years. Cardiff offers a unique and inspiring mixture of urban vibrancy, water side living and country relaxation, with breathtaking mountains and beaches just a few miles away. With a range of housing and education options, Cardiff is a cosmopolitan and bustling city and described as the ‘epitome of cool’ in the Lonely Planet travel guide. Cardiff, offers:
• A top 5 UK shopping city
• 19 million visitors each year
• International sporting events at the Millennium Stadium
• The Wales Millennium Centre – the base for Welsh National Opera, one of the UK’s most visited cultural attractions outside of London
• More green space per head than any other UK city
• Less than 45 minutes from a National Park and in close proximity to some of the UK’s best beaches
• Cardiff International Sports Village – a £1.2 billion landmark project with an international swimming pool and an Olympic standard canoeing and white water centre, and a multi purpose arena supported by hotels, bars restaurants, retail and residential areas
“Cardiff is the epitome of cool.”Lonely Planet
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Emerging business lines such as financial services technology and legal services are increasingly taking advantage of Cardiff’s potential as an investment destination.
Many of the UK’s largest banks, including Lloyds Banking Group and HSBC, run their mid- and back-office operations from the Cardiff Capital Region, taking advantage of access to the area’s young and educated labour pool and lower average wages than many of the UK’s biggest cities.
“The past 10 years saw strong growth in the legal services sector in Cardiff and the city has a really significant legal cluster now,” says Kathryn Roberts, senior partner at the Cardiff office of international law firm Eversheds. She says that though her company is serving business clients in the region and employs 480 people in the Welsh capital, the core business and a rationale behind keeping such a big team in the city comes from catering to clients outside Wales. “When you look at our client base you might think: ‘Why on earth would you work on projects in Oman or Denmark from a Cardiff office?’. Well, we have great experts here, from construction lawyers, through to real estate and corporate lawyers,” adds Ms Roberts.
And, as with financial services professionals, salaries for the legal sector in Cardiff are lower than they are in London. A lawyer with one year’s experience working in Cardiff makes on average £34,000 ($55,000) a year, and a partner £70,000. In both cases the figure is about 30% less than the London average, according to a survey compiled by UK recruitment firm Michael Page.
Cardiff: Room to growFinancial services technology (Fintech) is also attracting companies to Cardiff Capital Region. This is unsurprising, given that as well as a sizeable financial services cluster, Welsh universities produce thousands of graduates in IT-related disciplines every year. The region is home to institutions such as the Centre of Excellence in Mobile Applications and Services, a University of South Wales-led entity focusing on mobile and telecoms research, and High Performance Computing Wales, a collaboration between the Welsh government, private companies and universities enabling businesses access to super-powered computers.
With the financial technology sector, as with legal services, the business case for operating from South Wales lies, apart from access to talent and infra¬structure, in lower operating costs. “We win contracts with clients who are based in London where operating costs are much higher and then we bring the work here,” says James Snow, sales and marketing director at Target Group, a financial services software and back-office operations provider. “Importantly, thanks to the people and infrastructure that we have here, we are able to provide high-quality customer management and a high level of security around IT and payment processing services for our clients,” he adds.
Text courtesy of www.fDiIntelligence.com
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Cardiff Legal Melanie Hamer, founder partner and director in Wendy Hopkins Family law practice, thinks Cardiff is perfect. Cardiff’s legal and business advisory sector, with senior accountants and Lawyers, boasts leading UK and international reputations.
Welsh legal firms like Hugh James, Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice, Capital Law, which all service global clients from Cardiff, and Acuity Legal, are continuing to grow revenue outside of Wales from their head offices in Cardiff. International law firms Eversheds and Blake Morgan have significant offices in Cardiff, while UK-wide firm Geldards has their headquarters there.
There is also a vibrant business advisory sector with sizeable regional offices for leading players in PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and Grant Thornton. The Cardiff Capital Region is also home to leading financial services firms such as price comparison business GoCompare, Principality Building Society and home to the FTSE 100 company Admiral Insurance (including their new operation, Admiral Law).
Melanie Hamer is not surprised that professional firms in the capital are growing market share outside of Wales, particularly in London and the south-east of England. Melanie said: “We are attracting a lot of work from London, due to the fact that we not only offer clients an excellent service, but at a fraction of the cost of rival London firms. There are other niche
Case Study: Cardiff Legallaw firms in Cardiff, not just family law firms, and they are definitely attracting a lot of work out of London – around half of her own fee income is generated outside of South Wales.
“There is a myth sometimes that if you want the best you have to go to London and it is just not true. A lot of lawyers that now live and practice in Cardiff were in college and at law schools with some of these lawyers and we know we are as every bit as good as them.”
Melanie said: “London is only two hours away, although advantages in technology like Skype means we can interact with many clients remotely.”
She said: “There is great pool of resources within Wales and there are excellent candidates coming out of Welsh universities… we are also finding a growing number of lawyers who started their careers in London relocating to Cardiff not only for career development and a high standard of work, but for a better quality of life.”
“People have said to me, including clients, ‘you don’t know how lucky you are’ living and working in Cardiff… and I have to agree.”
Legal Wales
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University talent helps bring big City trading to Wales.
High-speed broadband and high-performing local universities have combined to bring a piece of London’s financial success to the heart of Wales’ second city.
Rapid online connections to global trading floors and the availability of talented graduates to conduct high-powered market transactions, have enabled fast-growing futures and derivatives firm, OSTC, to create a thriving exchange on Swansea’s waterfront.
Cardiff University graduate Michael Shirley grabbed the chance to return to Wales in 2009 when OSTC, a firm established by London City traders, was seeking opportunities to set up operations outside the financial hub in the capital.
Said Michael: “I made a presentation to the group and told them we could replicate in South Wales what they were doing elsewhere. Trading has moved on and, with good staff and good telecommunications, you can operate from anywhere.”
Michael had left Cardiff reluctantly in 1997, feeling there were few opportunities in Wales at that time for someone with ambitions to trade in global financial markets. Now he’s back in Wales as managing director of a multi-million pound business employing 60 graduates, mainly from Welsh universities. This puts OSTC among the pace-setters for Wales’ financial services sector.
Case study: OSTCContinuing infrastructure investment by the Welsh Government means the OSTC trading floor is served by fast, reliable telecommunications, linking traders to every major derivatives exchange in the world and gives them access to hundreds of products.
It was as a City Trader in London that Michael first came across OSTC, a company which deals only with exchange-traded products and invests only its own money. The founders recognised the potential created by online technology and were looking for areas where there were good universities but less competition for talent than in London.
Michael says: “It is working excellently from Swansea with good universities relatively close by. We are seeing more and more applications for jobs from entrepreneurial and ambitious people and are very happy with the quality of the applicants.
Michael said he also greatly appreciates the pleasant environment and lifestyle that South Wales offers him and his family and he firmly believes this factor also helps attract top calibre staff to the Swansea operation.
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Case study: DeloitteDeloitte currently employs more than 400 at their offices at Fusion Point and nearby Callaghan Square, both in the centre of Cardiff and have recently announced plans to expand by a further 700 people in Cardiff. The new jobs being created at Deloitte’s Centre of Excellence are as a result of demand amongst the banks, financial institutions and Life Sciences industries for risk and compliance services.
The professional advisory firm assessed a number of other offices in the UK and overseas, before opting for Cardiff – where it is building up a first class reputation within the firm globally for centralised back office expertise in areas such as tax and risk management. This reputation is complemented by Cardiff’s easy commute distance to London.
A specialist team originally set up in Cardiff to combat money laundering threats facing the accountancy profession has grown to become a multi-functional research and compliance unit with a worldwide remit.
Its original mission focused primarily on helping the firm’s tax practitioners to comply with money laundering legislation, freeing them to concentrate on fee-earning client work. Today, however, the department provides specialist compliance support across the Deloitte organisation worldwide. Such is its success that its original responsibilities have been greatly expanded and the initial team of eight people has grown to 90. Although its rapid growth did lead Deloitte to consider relocating the unit, they came down firmly in favour of keeping it in Cardiff, where they have managed to recruit a steady stream of top calibre professionals.
“It is the right thing for our business to be here in Cardiff with this team.” said Cardiff office director Ross Flanigan, who said that London was seriously
considered as an location in the early days and, as it grew, sites in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and India were discussed. Ross added that the skills and knowledge built up in Cardiff have created a valuable service centre shared by many arms of the business across all continents; looking not only for compliance support but for a widening range of in-depth research.
“It turned out that the comparisons between Cardiff and the other areas did not produce anything to take us away from here. It was a purely business decision,” said Ross.
He added: “The major success factor is the people. We would not have achieved what we have without the diverse and capable workforce. I have been overwhelmed by high quality of applicants every time I have recruited. The majority of our people are graduates and there is a huge pool of people in the relevant disciplines out there.”
Ross said: “Our firm has significant growth plans over the next few years, and the extensive expansion of business operations in Cardiff will enable our direct client facing staff to spend much more time on their core work and developing their client relationships. The operation will work across our business nationally and internationally, but also has a great effect locally.”
“We are offering stable employment and rewarding careers to people who might not have pursued our more traditional graduate and accountancy pathways. For example, we are developing apprenticeships and exploring participation in the Welsh Financial Services Graduate Programme. Overall, this expansion is great for Deloitte and a tremendous boost in opportunities for the local workforce.”
To find out more contact the Welsh Government:
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 (0) 7967 357 163
Web: wales.com/business
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