Most cities count themselves lucky if they excel in one field of enterprise. But London is different. From finance to filmmaking, from AI to architecture, the capital ranks as the most important, or among the most important, metropolises in the world across a unmatched range of commercial endeavours.
Financial services
It may be New York’s turn to be at the absolute pinnacle of the global league table for financial mega-hubs, but London runs it a very close second. By some measures it is streets ahead. Nearly 40 per cent of global trading in foreign exchange takes place in London, worth about $3.8 trillion (£2.8 trillion) daily, more than New York, Singapore and Hong Kong combined.
More than 160 foreign banks operate in London and it leads Europe with the insurance services clustered around the Lloyd’s building. The City has boomed since Brexit, despite fears business and head honchos would leak away to Frankfurt, Paris or Geneva. That has not happened, in part because none of those cities has the same clout or deep pool of talent as London. There are now about 670,000 workers in the City, up by a quarter since 2019.
And it is not only the ancient Square Mile. Canary Wharf, three miles to the east, would be a major international financial district in its own right if the City did not exist.
But do not just take our word for it. Billions of pounds of investment is pouring into new skyscrapers in the City and Docklands. JP Morgan, one of Wall Street’s banking titans, regards its presence in London as so important it is preparing to commit up to £3 billion in a vast new office building.
AI and tech
London’s tech sector is the biggest and most vibrant in Europe, ranking behind only San Francisco and New York globally. It has particular strengths in AI, fintech and cleantech. About 600,000 people are employed in tech in London, not far behind the number working in the City. Indeed London may soon be better known as a global tech hub — what some call a “flat white economy” — than a financial services centre.
There are an estimated 52 unicorns — tech start-ups valued at more than $1 billion — based in the capital. The biggest is fintech giant Revolut, which has its headquarters in Canary Wharf and is now valued at $75 billion (£56 billion)
London and its surrounding M25 hinterland is also rapidly becoming known as Europe’s data-centre capital, supporting the AI technology that already looms so large in all our lives. There is an estimated 2.8GW of installed capacity, with huge clusters at Slough, just to the west of the capital, Docklands, Hayes and Park Royal.
Life sciences
London is winning a global reputation for excellence in one of the world’s fastest growing sectors: life sciences. The capital is Europe’s leading hub for the sector, hosting more than 2,700 companies and 19 of the top 20 global pharmaceutical firms.
More than £1.6 billion in venture capital was invested in the sector last year, more than Paris, Stockholm and Berlin combined, according to figures from City Hall. London is seen as a world leader in AI-driven drug discovery, genomics and advanced therapies. There are major clusters at Canary Wharf, White City and Paddington.
London’s strength is bolstered by the research reputation of universities such as Imperial and UCL in the capital itself and Oxford and Cambridge an hour or so away. Together the three cities make up the so-called “golden triangle”, one of the most formidable concentrations of research firepower in the world.
Fashion
London is recognised as one of the “big four” fashion capitals alongside New York, Paris and Milan. The industry supports an estimated 200,000 jobs, with about three quarters of all UK designers based in the capital.
Its global reputation is based in part on the legacy of the bespoke tailoring and shirt-making heritage of Savile Row and Jermyn Street, but also through cutting-edge contemporary design, from the Swinging Sixties heyday of Mary Quant, Biba and Carnaby Street and the punk revolution of the 1970s pioneered by Dame Vivienne Westwood, to the avant-garde youth culture and experimental creations of today.
Institutions such as Central Saint Martins have produced some of the world’s most celebrated fashion designers, including Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and John Galliano.
London Fashion Week is widely seen as the coolest and most innovative of the big annual catwalk events.
Filmmaking
Whether you call it Lollywood or Brollywood, London and its environs are now close to outstripping California for the sheer volume of their filmmaking. The sector has generated about £10 billion on inward investment spend in London over the past five years and the capital is now home to more than 4,500 production companies.
The scale of filmmaking infrastructure in and around London is jaw dropping. Pinewood and Shepperton are two of the biggest studio complexes in the world and there are 60 animation studios in London. Movies and high-end TV series currently in production in London include the remake of Tomb Raider starring Sophie Turner as Lara Croft alongside Jason Isaacs and Sigourney Weaver; Highlander starring Henry Cavill, Dave Bautista and Russell Crowe; and Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol starring Johnny Depp and Ian McKellen.
And the capital appears as the backdrop to so many movies now there is barely a film without at least one scene in an instantly recognisable London location.
Legal services
Rich and getting divorced in Saudi Arabia? Launching complex litigation in Kazakhstan? The chances are you will be engaging London legal teams and your case will end up in the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand.
The rule of law runs like DNA through London’s business dealings, one of the capital’s true superpowers — particularly in an ever more unstable world.
The UK’s pre-eminent status in legal services is helped by the international prestige of English common law, which forms the basis of the legal systems for more than a quarter of the world’s 320 jurisdictions.
More than 200 international law firms are based in London and seven of the top 20 ranked by revenue have their headquarters in the capital. The “Magic Circle” firms A&O Shearman, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Slaughter and May are among the most profitable and prestigious in the world.
London’s barristers are recognised as world leaders in complex international litigation and arbitration and are often instructed by high profile foreign clients.
Architecture
Check out a jaw-dropping example of cutting-edge architecture anywhere in the world and there is a good chance it was designed in London. Apple Park, the spaceship global headquarters for the world’s most powerful company in Cupertino? Oh that was knocked up in Lord Foster’s practice in London.
London is undoubtedly one of the great architectural powerhouses
The extraordinary Terminal 4 at Madrid’s Barajas airport? That was the product of the team at Lord Rogers’s practice Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, based in the Cheesegrater skyscraper in the City. Which it also designed.
And the massive Guangzhou Opera House culture complex in China, designed to look like two pebbles on the Pearl River? Another of London’s finest, the practice of Dame Zaha Hadid, based in Clerkenwell, was responsible.
London is undoubtedly one of the great architectural powerhouses, attracting emerging young talent from all over the world to its illustrious starchitect firms.
