Below is a detailed list of what the City of London does
internationally:
- Promotes UK based financial and related business services
through up to 80 days of Lord Mayoral visits each year to overseas
markets – in a typical year over 20 countries will be visited
covering Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia Pacific, South and
Central Asia, and North America. Business delegations are involved
in such visits.
- Hosts / briefs many overseas visitors to the City at the
Mansion House or in Guildhall, drawing on the City of London’s
extensive programme of commissioned research.
- Entertains Heads of State and other guests of Government, gives
an annual banquet for the Diplomatic Corps, and organises less
formal briefing events for Heads of Mission in London.
- Runs a City Marketing Suite freely available to all promoting
the wider City (its services, products, amenities and locational
advantages) – over 15,000 users during the last year. The new Suite
which opened in May 2002 has hosted events involving a wide range
of City and other London organisations, and visitors from over 60
countries.
- Runs an inward investment enquiry handling service focussed on
the City / City fringes, and is currently developing a strategy for
targeting potential inward investors from key markets.
- Subscribes annually to Think London (formerly the London First
Centre) for the overall promotion of London as an inward investment
location (50%) and for targeted City related activities (50%). In
order to support the regeneration of the Thames Gateway it also
subscribes each year to Gateway to London, the sub-regional inward
investment agency.
- Runs up to nine City Familiarisation courses each year for
FCO and UK Trade & Investment staff in commercial posts abroad,
as well as senior management (Ambassadorial level) courses. Every
two years it also runs an Industry Briefing Course, providing five
days of intensive training for Commercial Staff in priority
countries dealing specifically with the Financial Services sector.
All those who have attended the courses (a group which now covers
the majority of Posts overseas) receive ‘City News Monitor’ and
updates on research and other City of London activities.
- Publishes ‘Global Powerhouse’ – the key promotional brochure
for the City and its services currently in English, Arabic, Chinese
and Japanese, with other languages planned. This is distributed
widely, with copies going to all significant Posts overseas, to
foreign representation in London, academic institutions, business
groups and other recipients.
- Subscribes annually to International Financial Services London
(formerly BI) as a leading promotional body for the UK-based
financial services sector. This support has been designed to
reinforce IFSL’s trade liberalisation (WTO), statistical and
business promotional work, and to help boost membership from its
current level of around 110 companies.
- Runs an International and City Affairs Team to support the
Mayoral Visits programme with briefing and business back-up, as
well as to develop the Corporate Aftercare Programme and to manage
a high level of visitors from overseas.
- Runs a European Affairs team to track EU market-opening and
regulatory issues, to identify opportunities for and threats to the
City’s role as the EU’s major financial centre, and to facilitate
contact between City practitioners, markets and trade associations
(representing the City’s diverse range of financial services) and
the EU institutions. The team also seeks to bring representatives
from the EU institutions to the Square Mile for more
detailed briefings.
- Funds and manages a City Office in Brussels to assist in the
gathering of intelligence and to influence the development of
policy towards financial services. The work of the Office is
steered by an EU Advisory Group of senior international financial
services practitioners, chaired by André Villeneuve with Michael
Snyder as the Deputy Chairman.
- Runs an annual City of London Programme (a briefing course
followed by placements with the Treasury and City firms) for
financial professionals from each of the new EU Member States to
boost the capacity of their markets, practitioners and regulators
to manage their business following EU accession, and to build or
reinforce links with the City.
- Has just established City of London Representation in Beijing
and Shanghai to further the interests of the City.