Professional Services
The professional service sector in Tyne and Wear has enjoyed strong growth in recent years as part of the area’s developing knowledge economy. These services have been driven by economic growth and investment and are helping the area to compete in the global marketplace.
Financial services are well represented in Tyne and Wear in the banking, corporate finance, investment management and insurance sectors. As well as being home to Northern Rock, Barclays, Tesco Bank and Santander also have operations here. The Big Four accountancy firms have offices in the region and there are a range of accountancy and financial advisory firms.
Along with the launch of the region’s £125m Finance for Business North East Fund, there are an increasing number of fund managers and business angels operating across Tyne and Wear to provide finance for growing businesses.
The region’s legal sector is also growing. Dickinson Dees is one of the UK’s Top 50 law firms and the biggest in the North East. Other key players include Ward Hadaway, Muckles and Watson Burton.
A major success is the region’s contact centre industry which employs around 60,000 people in the North East. Major names like Convergys, EDF Energy, NPower and Sage (UK) Ltd all have customer service operations here. The excellent communications infrastructure has enabled the region to compete highly effectively against emerging economies for contact centre operations, especially as the demand grows for more sophisticated services. Figures from industry analysts Cushman & Wakefield show the region is the favoured contact centre location in the UK and ranks number one in terms of low staff costs. The North East also boats the lowest staff attrition rates in the UK (16% compared to the UK average of 23.9%) according to the The Contact Centre Decision Makers Guide 2009 (7th edition).
