1. Innovative 2. Reach of 3. Regulatory 4. Access to 5. Resilient business Our global offer to business: ecosystem 昀椀nancial activity environment talent and skills infrastructure London and the UK’s competitive 26 strengths supporting economic growth 5.3 Digital and cyber “Demand for data has increased Whether it’s needed for securities trading in milliseconds or reliable video calls, data across nearly all industries, but is the world’s most in-demand commodity. Businesses rely on fast connections and particularly in 昀椀nancial services. ” broad data streams. The UK is a leader in 昀椀ntech, AI and digital 昀椀nance, but London’s digital infrastructure needs to improve in line with increasing demand. London has the slowest 昀椀xed line Cyber security remains a high People in the UK have the highest and mobile internet speeds across priority to combat the risk of level of internet freedom. all GFCs. online fraud. Internet freedom is an important London has the slowest broadband All the GFCs in our analysis have factor when a tech company decides across all GFCs; average speeds in strong cyber security networks, with where to locate its headquarters. New York, Hong Kong and Singapore the UK ranking third behind the US There is little point in setting up shop are more than twice as fast as the and Singapore. Cyber security is a in a country that would not allow UK. The UK also has the slowest growing risk, and the UK insurance your product to be used. The UK has mobile internet speeds amongst industry is leading the way in the highest internet freedom among GFCs. Demand for data has increased insuring those risks, which improves GFCs: it blocks the least amount of across nearly all industries, but security networks. Companies content and does not infringe on particularly in 昀椀nancial services. must meet minimum cyber security consumer rights. Linked to this is Apps and programmes use higher levels in order to take out cyber control of corruption and the UK levels of data to run smoothly, insurance policies. This has driven is strong in this area. It ranks high and the UK needs to provide up the level of security at companies above the US, but below Singapore su昀케cient data e昀케ciencies. The UK that are prone to attacks and and Germany. government launched the National therefore improved cyber security Source Data Strategy to address future for everyone. needs, this is a key aspect of the UK Source Freedom House 2023 remaining competitive. Source CoLC analysis of EIU data CoLC analysis of multiple providers