Scotland’s financial services expertise and green investment potential can deliver economic and environmental success, First Minister Alex Salmond told an audience of international investors yesterday.
The First Minister was speaking to senior bankers and executives at the Sovereign Wealth Focus conference in Edinburgh. Previously held in Luxembourg….
Scotland’s financial services expertise and green investment potential can deliver economic and environmental success, First Minister Alex Salmond told an audience of international investors yesterday.
The First Minister was speaking to senior bankers and executives at the Sovereign Wealth Focus conference in Edinburgh. Previously held in Luxembourg, Edinburgh was selected to host the conference due to its reputation as a centre of global finance in asset management as well as legal and advisory services.
The First Minister outlined the vast opportunities for investment in Scotland’s growing renewable energy sector and invited delegates to attend the forthcoming Scottish Low Carbon Investment Conference, which will take place at Edinburgh’s EICC on September 28-29, 2010.
The event will bring together Scotland’s low carbon investment opportunities and financial organisations. It will offer a platform for both the public and private sectors to collaborate and identify practical financing solutions for real investment opportunities.
First Minister Alex Salmond said:
“With $3.8 trillion of assets under management last year, Sovereign Wealth Funds will play a hugely significant role in shaping the global economy and could present great opportunities for Scotland.
“Scotland has established itself as a global financial centre and there is also an opportunity for Sovereign Wealth Funds to benefit from our world-leading expertise in financial services and asset management.
“There are currently more than $945 billion of funds under management in Scotland – 5 per cent of all assets under management in Europe – making Scotland the second largest financial services centre in the UK, after London.
“Some of the world’s largest investment management companies have a presence here in Scotland. There are also a number of internationally successful Scottish companies, such as Martin Currie, which last year received a mandate from China’s National Social Security Fund to manage a portion of its overseas investment.
“This event provides an opportunity to showcase Scotland’s excellence in financial services and also to highlight the vast opportunities available to potential investors, particularly in our successful and rapidly growing renewable energy sector.
“Scotland has the natural resources and ambition to become the green energy powerhouse of Europe, with an estimated quarter of Europe’s offshore wind and tidal energy resource and a tenth of its potential wave capacity.
“If Scotland harnessed just a third of its offshore renewable energy potential, offshore wind, wave and tidal energy could meet our electricity needs seven times over by 2050. A recent report estimates the net value of this amount of energy, in terms of electricity sales, would be £14 billion by 2050.
“Capitalising on the economic benefits of Scotland’s vast natural resources requires massive investment in infrastructure. This offers the financial sector an attractive opportunity to make a positive contribution to our environment while securing sustainable returns.
“This Government supports the creation of new financial instruments to allow the exploitation of renewable energy, which is why we will host a major conference to explore the issue this September.
“The greatest long-term threat to global economic stability is climatic and by bringing together international finance and developers of low carbon projects we can make a significant contribution to the economy and our environment.”