eFinancialCareers

Scotland’s about to be ravaged by a new breed of global competitor. An ill-prepared and under-qualified workforce won’t do it any favours.

At a briefing organised by Scottish Financial Enterprise, Trevor Hatton, managing director, Scotland, at Accenture, peered into his crystal ball to paint a picture of financial services north of the border in 2018.

Out of the mists he saw new threats appearing from emerging markets like Dubai, Poland, Mexico and Korea: “What has made Scotland a success in the past does not guarantee success in the future.”

Colin Stewart, managing director (Scotland), at Citi, shares the sense of impending doom. He says: “I’d like to instil a sense of urgency. There’s still a lot of complacency in Scotland, but when you look at other developing countries, these guys are running fast.”

This doesn’t mean there aren’t also opportunities on the horizon. After rushing to offshore their back-office functions, Hatton predicts some banks might fancy repatriating them due to dis-satisfaction with current outsourcing solutions. Scotland should promote the presence of the likes of JPMorgan’s tech centre or BNP Paribas’ operations in Glasgow to encourage more inward investment.

However, to make the most of these opportunities, Scotland may need to do more to open its borders to skilled people from overseas. Emerging markets are leading the way when it comes to education: 33 million university educated professionals are produced by the emerging economies every year, according to Hatton, compared to 14 million in the developed world.

Gordon Montgomery, director, financial services practice, at Harvey Nash Consulting (Scotland), reckons there are also opportunities to ship Scotland’s talent out to emerging markets.

“In Vietnam, for example, there’s a real shortage of middle and senior managers. Scotland has a long history of exporting talent, and it could be an avenue in the future.”