Jobs & Money Detail
Victoria wants finance workers
According to some experts, the UK’s financial services sector is fast heading towards meltdown
It is estimated in some quarters that job losses in London could surpass the numbers seen after the dotcom crash in 2000, with UK-based economic consultancy Experian Business Strategies estimating that there could be a cull of up to 20,000 positions in London's financial-services sector this year, compared to the roughly 17,000 seen after the collapse of the dotcom bubble. However, while this will be bad news for many finance-based workers, for those who are not adverse to furthering their career on the other side of the world, there are other options open.
Last month the Victorian government held two seminars – one in London and one in Edinburgh – with the soul purpose of attracting finance workers to the state. "Victoria has a really well developed finance industry," David de Kretser, the Governor of Victoria, told Emigrate Australia in early April, the day after the London seminar was held. "A huge pension fund has been accumulated in the state in recent years, and we now need all sorts of finance workers to help manage this money. "The banking industry is very strong in Victoria at the moment, and we require all kinds of financial professionals to keep it that way: Accountants, money managers, business analysts... the list goes on."
Indeed, Victoria's financial services sector is the third-largest sector in the Victorian economy, and accounts for over 25 per cent of the entire Australian financial services industry. There are estimated to be 100,000 finance workers in Victoria alone, with a majority based in the state capital. "The Victoria finance industry is largely based in Melbourne," confirms Governor de Kretser. "Geelong also has small pockets of financial industry, and there may be opportunities for, say, accountants there, but there's not really the super businesses you get in Melbourne." Of the London seminar, the Governor said he was encouraged by the response, with around 160 to 170 people turing up, exceeding the 100 they had targeted.
More information here about Victoria
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