Councillor Gordon Matheson
Leader, Glasgow City Council

As Leader of Glasgow City Council, I am delighted to welcome you to Scotland's most business friendly city.

Glasgow is in the process of a major transformation. The city has reinvented itself in recent years and is a dynamic and multi-cultural place. It is one of Europe’s most exciting locations and home to some of the UK’s most successful regeneration programmes over the past 20 years.

Glasgow is an ideal place to do business and its strong economic growth in recent years has created an environment that will maximise the benefits to companies investing and locating here.  Glasgow's skilled labour pool and competitively priced operating costs mean the city is well placed to withstand the rigours of current economic circumstances and can compete very effectively with other locations.

Despite the global economic downturn, Glasgow has entered the top ten of Europe’s best performing financial centres for the first time and has climbed from 46th to the 33rd ranking worldwide in the prestigious Global Financial Centres Index 2011. Glasgow has recently attracted an impressive list of new arrivals and expansions to the city including – Barclays Wealth, Santander, Tesco Bank, esure, Morgan Stanley , HSBC, NFU Mutual and Scottish Friendly. They join an impressive who's who of blue chip companies who underline Glasgow's status as a world class business location - these include JP Morgan, BNP Paribas, First Data International, Aon, ACE Insurance, Handelsbanken, Clydesdale Bank and many, many more.

Glasgow also welcomes the economic activity generated by its role as host to the 2014 Commonwealth Games.  In preparing the city for the Games, Glasgow City Council is leading on 20 major infrastructure projects and these will sustain and create employment and business opportunities for the city. 

Over and above this, Glasgow is investing millions of pounds in growing the city's business base, attracting creative, educated and capable people, embracing all sectors of industry.  Recent annual employment figures show that Glasgow has yet again been the fastest growing employment base of any city in the UK.  The city is continuing to develop and attract new industry through sustained investment in commercial property, the provision of transport and communications channels, and ensuring easy access to both internal and external markets.

Glasgow's modern, mixed economy has gained a well-deserved reputation for its success in economic performance and innovative urban regeneration.  This is thanks to a good workforce and excellent relationship between the public and private sectors.

Welcome to Glasgow - a great place to do business.

Gordon Matheson, Leader, Glasgow City Council