‘A shield and a megaphone’
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COMMENT Sandy Begbie CBE, chief executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise gives his perspective on the last 40 years
Some of you will be too young to remember May 1986, but for those who do, memories of Top Gun, the Chernobyl disaster, and Spitting Image’s “The Chicken Song” may well spring to mind. Hearts also began that month top of the league, but we’ll gloss over what happened next in the interest of civic harmony.
But May 1986 also has another significance – Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE) was launched to bring together Scotland’s burgeoning financial services industry.
While much has changed since, the founding principles of SFE are still as relevant as ever. The original press pack outlined its goal of being an independent voice for the industry, with the simple but ambitious idea that Scotland’s financial sector is stronger when it works and speaks together.
Our founding objectives tasked us with “supporting efforts to promote financial activities”, and “co-ordinating promotional efforts”. In an era of deregulation and the burgeoning “Big Bang” in London, SFE was Scotland’s proactive answer – a shield and a megaphone for our unique domestic strengths. Decades later, that spirit of collaboration remains at the heart of all we do.The progress that we have made is clear. We have evolved from a traditional banking and insurance hub into a diversified global powerhouse.
Since 1986, our contribution to Scotland’s GDP has also grown proportionately, cementing our status as the largest financial hub in the UK outside of London. Couple this with our membership growing from 34 founding members to over 110 today and our sector’s exports standing at £12 billion, and it is safe to say that Scotland’s financial and professional services sector has thrived over the past four decades.
Despite some significant hurdles along the way, our sector has grown in ways that our founders could never have imagined. Our prowess in the fintech space is the envy of our competitors and, while the rise of technology was discussed in 1986 as a distant “computerisation” of the office, the reality of a borderless, digital-first financial ecosystem wouldn’t have been imagined by even the most forward-thinking pioneers.
We also have capabilities in AI which punch well above our weight, positioning Scotland not just as a consumer of global tech, but as a creator of the algorithms that will define the next 40 years. I’m excited to see how this develops over the coming years, as we move from automation to true intelligence.
One constant that has remained between then and now is the depth the talent our industry can draw on in Scotland. Our educational institutions continue to develop and nurture some of the finest talent which has continued to drive our sector’s growth.In 1986, we were training the leaders who navigated changing global markets and the digital revolution; today, we are training the green finance experts and data scientists who will navigate the transition to net-zero. Our people remain our greatest competitive advantage.
As we look back on four decades of SFE, we aren’t just celebrating a milestone in history – we are doubling down on the collaborative spirit that ensures Scotland remains a global leader, no matter what the next 40 years have in store.