A handful of financial centres command foreign direct investment (FDI) flows in western Europe. London overwhelmingly leads the group, which includes also Paris, Dublin and Zurich – all receiving and generating larger investments over the past year than in the previous review period.
The UK hub dominates both in terms of inward and outward financial services FDI. It attracted $1.03bn and 57 projects in the 12 months to March 2018, a figure slightly higher than the previous period, according to estimates by greenfield monitor fDi Markets. The most recent projects include Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial expanding its investment banking operations and American Express locating its new headquarters in the city.
Paris and Dublin, in second and third place, respectively, both attracted significantly larger investments than they did a year earlier. The $696.8m received by the French hub, in particular, was nearly five times higher, pushing it ahead of previously second placed Dublin, where inward FDI grew only by a factor of 1.6.
In the outward FDI tables, the leaders remain unchanged as London, Paris and Zurich again occupy the top three spots, in that order. FDI figures here, however, have not expanded by as much as they did in the latest inward ranking. Madrid, the highest mover, jumps from eighth to fourth place by almost doubling outflows. But the Spanish hub drops from third to ninth in the inward table, despite attracting similar amounts in both periods.
