Glasgow is Scotland’s Top FDI Destination

EY's Attractiveness Survey 2024 once again reveals that Scotland is the UK's top location for Foreign Direct Investment (outside of London) – marking a decade in that position.  With 135 projects that also makes Scotland the sixth best-performing region in Europe. 

And with 27 projects in 2024, Glasgow has reclaimed its place as Scotland's leading city for FDI. Glasgow was also the second-most popular UK city outside London for FDI, after Manchester. 

The U.S. remains the largest source of FDI projects in Scotland.

Financial Services Hotspot

According to EY’s reporting, Scotland remains the top UK destination (outside of London) for financial services investment. Scotland attracted 11 financial services foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in 2024, up from nine in 2023 and representing a decade high. The US continues to be Scotland’s top inbound country of origin for financial services FDI, with five projects in 2024 and a total of 38 projects over the last decade. 

The EY Survey comes on the back of the latest Global Financial Centres Index Report (GFCI) which evaluates 119 global cities biannually in March and September. GCFI ranked Glasgow 32nd globally - amongst the world’s top financial centres. This reflects a steady improvement as Glasgow’s reputation grows. This is an improvement of 5 places since the last report in September 2024 with consistent and steady progress in each report since March 2021 when Glagow ranked 62nd.  

Glasgow now also sits comfortably in the Top 15 of Western European centres (at 11 and ahead of Lugano, Berlin, Guernsey & Hamburg). This also represents good progress climbing from 15 in March 2024 and 21 September 2023.

Sources: 

EY Attractiveness Survey 2024 
Global Financial Centres Index
Business Insider 
Daily Business