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Location Leeds: open for business

Essential guide to the Leeds commercial property market, showcasing the city's premier business locations. Features out of town and city centre offices, retail and industrial premises. Published in association with Yorkshire Business Insider.

Leeds:The Facts
the key facts

Statistical overview of the economy of Leeds and the city region including information on key sectors, workforce, population and output.

Business in Leeds:
the key facts

Detailed information on the Leeds economy covering everything from financial services to the media, workforce and skills also providing an overview of the Leeds lifestyle including education, leisure and healthcare.

Holbeck Urban Village: a creative location for business

A fast developing location for creative and digital media businesses close to the centre of Leeds. Includes case studies of companies based in the area.

Government departments and agencies

Detailed report is available setting out the advantages of Leeds as a location for government departments and agencies. Includes case studies.

Shared Service Centres

Detailed report on advantages of Leeds as a location for shared services centres. Includes studies of shared services operations based in Leeds.

Making it in Leeds

Detailed report on the manufacturing sector in Leeds, including case studies on some of the city's leading manufacturers.

Conference Leeds

Guide to 290 venues for conferences, seminars and training events in Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Wakefield and Pennine Yorkshire.

Financial services

The city’s strength in financial services is reflected in the size and number of companies and the depth and quality of provision.

Around 120,000 people work in the sector in Leeds, making the city the second largest centre for financial and professional services outside London and an integral part of the UK’s financial services industry.

In the wider Leeds city region, there are 276,000 employed in financial and business services.

In the last ten years employment has grown by 18%, and a further 18% growth is projected over the next decade.

Leeds is a major centre for accountancy and legal services, mortgage, corporate and retail finance, banking, insurance, stockbroking and telephone and internet-based financial services.

More than 200 accountancy practices operate in the city, including the majority of the 20 largest UK practices.

Leeds has over 30 national and international banks, many of whose northern or regional offices are based in the city. It is the headquarters for First Direct and is home to Yorkshire Bank and large Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS operations.

The city is an important centre for equity, venture and risk finance. Founded in Leeds, the venture capital provider, YFM, is now the UK’s largest provider of risk capital to small and medium sized enterprises.

Leeds financial and professional firms have expanded nationally and internationally and act for clients all over the world. The majority are represented or have links overseas in all the major markets.

First Direct, UKI Partnerships, Direct Line, HBOS, Santander, RBS and TD Waterhouse have large operations in the city, and the region is also home to a number of mutual building societies, including the Leeds, Skipton, Ecology and the country’s second largest – the Yorkshire.

The Bank of England has a major presence in the city through its Leeds cash centre, which is responsible for bulk note handling for the North of England. The Bank’s Agency for Yorkshire and the Humber, which reports to the Monetary Policy Committee on economic conditions in the region, is also based in Leeds.

Financial Leeds is a private sector led membership organisation set up to promote the interests of the sector and the continued growth of Leeds and the wider city region as a major centre for financial and business services.