Industry sectors

Sydney, the capital of New South Wales (NSW) and Australia's global city, is one of the world's major financial centres.

It is also an Asia Pacific hotspot for world leading professional services firms, covering industries as varied as business advisory and consultancy, legal services, marketing, public relations, accountancy and human resources.

Leading strengths

Sydney and NSW offer a highly educated and multilingual workforce, a time zone bridging the close of US and London markets, strong links with Asia, a stable and low-risk environment, plus an exceptional lifestyle.

Both Sydney and regional NSW are great locations for businesses and expatriate staff, offering political stability, access to key amenities, as well as high levels of safety and health care.

Number one for finance

The World Economic Forum currently rates Australia number one in Asia and number two in the world in terms of best performing global financial centres, above places like Hong Kong and Singapore.

Finance and insurance is the largest industry in NSW, contributing $57 billion to the State’s economy in 2008-09, and making up 46 per cent of the Australian industry.

Smart and savvy

NSW is the most educated State in the country, with over 57 per cent of our working population educated to a tertiary level - the highest proportion anywhere in Australia.

As at May 2009, more than 2.6 million NSW residents aged between 15 and 64 had achieved post-school qualifications, with 1.1 million Bachelor degrees or higher.

Sydney is also one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities, with more languages spoken here than in any other city in the Asia Pacific.