Financial services are still crucial to the UK

by Rudy Scheinost

The Ask the Chancellor debate on Channel 4 last night highlighted a number of areas in the economy that all the major political parties see as being crucial.

One of those sectors was financial services and it sparked some lively debate between the Liberal Democrats' Vince Cable, the Conservatives' George Osbourne and chancellor Alistair Darling.

Organisations like the CBI have predicted that the country's financial services industry will build on its stable displays over the last few months and actually expand in the near future.

The sector remains an important part of the UK economy and despite the negative feelings towards bankers and other financial professions, they are still big contributors to the public coffers via tax contributions.

Areas of the country like Yorkshire also rely on financial services to support the local economy and it's good news there too, with a £90 million venture capital fund which is meant to boost business growth in the county and the Humber.

Financial services might have got a bad rep over the last couple of years, but as the economy begins to pull out of the recession there is no better place to be if you want to be part of the recovery.