Financial & Insurance Services
Sector Facts – York Region
- York Region is Ontario’s 2nd largest Finance and Insurance services cluster after the City of Toronto with 1,596 firms locally (StatsCan CBP ’12)
- Home to the Canadian headquarters or major operations of financial industry leaders such as American Express, Bank of China, Allstate Insurance, TD Waterhouse, State Farm Insurance, Ceridian, RBC, HSBC and Scotiabank
Sector Facts – Greater Toronto Area (GTA)
- North America’s 3rd largest and fastest growing financial centre, and a top 10 worldwide (Global Financial Centres Index)
- Home to the headquarters of 10 domestic banks including the 5 largest banks in Canada and 3 of world’s top 25
- 90% of foreign financial institutions in Canada have their country head offices in the Toronto area incld. 18 foreign bank subsidiaries, 21 foreign bank branches
- The Toronto Stock Exchange is the third largest in North America after New York and Chicago. 7th largest in the world by market cap and 2nd globally in number of listings
- Home to 80% of Canada’s investment management and mutual fund industry representing $700 billion assets under management (AUM), including headquarters of 4 of the 5 largest domestic investment management firms. Toronto’s global AUM ranks amongst the top 5 in the world
- Headquarters for 60 Life Insurance companies (2 of global top 10) and 130 P&C insurers (3 of Canada’s top 5)
- Home to 129 securities firms
- 58 Pension Funds of which 5 with combined assets of over $300 billion are in Toronto. 4 rank among world’s top 100
- Operations of 7 of the top 10 largest hedge fund administrators in the world
Area Workforce
- Toronto area’s workforce of 4 million is Canada’s largest and most concentrated (25% of total in Canada)
- 67% of York Region’s workforce have post-secondary education (vs. 51% Canada-wide; 37% in the U.S.; 27% in EU)
- Over 222,400 people are employed in a variety of functions in Toronto’s financial services sector (City of Toronto, 2012)
- The Toronto area directly employs 30% of Canada’s financial services sector employees
- In 1999-2009 Toronto area’s financial services sector added 69,000 jobs – cumulative growth rate of 42%, or an average annual growth rate of 4.2%
- The Toronto area is home to more than 7,000 Chartered Financial Analysts (CFAs), the second highest concentration of CFAs in the world after New York
- Toronto has a higher percentage of post-secondary graduates than New York or Chicago, and is on par with Boston
- Connected to the world’s fastest growing markets – 45% of York Region’s population is foreign born; over 70 languages spoken locally
- Toronto ranks as a city with one of the lowest degrees of overall staffing risk, globally (PwC 2012)
Business Costs
- York Region has the lowest commercial and industrial property taxes in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) — 25% lower on average
- 11% lower Corporate Income Tax than U.S. avg. (State-Fed) and up to 50% lower employer healthcare costs
- Lower salary costs and lower employee attrition for technology and management roles compared to major U.S. metro areas
- Federal and Provincial SR&ED incentives can cut R&D costs by 40%-60%
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The Bottom Line for Your Business
Locate/Expand in York Region, Greater Toronto: Maximize Your Market Access | Leverage Top Global Talent | Locate Cost-Effectively