Big end of town teams up to drive Brisbane’s profile as finance hub
A new financial services power group has been formed in Brisbane to develop the city into a financial hub.
Treasurer Cameron Dick addressing the first meeting of the Queensland Finance Council at Gadens' boardroom in Eagle Street.
A who’s who of Queensland’s financial services leaders have joined the group under the banner of the Queensland Finance Council that will have several roles including as a discussion group on issues affecting the sector.
Chaired by Queensland Investment Corporation chief executive Kylie Rampa, and established by the Queensland Futures Institute, the council had its first meeting at Gadens’ boardroom on Wednesday that included Treasurer Cameron Dick.
The council was given data from EY showing that financial services added $20 billion to the economy during a Covid-impacted 2021 and employed about 73,000 workers, but was still recovering from a significant fall in numbers over the past few years because of Covid. It was also the seventh-biggest business sector in the state.
There were an estimated 20,000 job vacancies in the sector in Queensland.
The council would look at ways to create pathways for financial services careers in Queensland, promote Queensland as a location for financial services and ensure the state’s residents and businesses had access to high-quality financial services.
The EY report said that since the onset of Covid-19 there had been a shift toward more employees working from home. Some occupation were better able and suited to have employees working from home than other and many jobs in the financial sector were in this category, the report said.
“The ability to work from home allows workers to relocate to regional areas where they have previously been confined to cities.
“This may be attractive for some people that wish to move away from major cities.
“In turn, population growth in regions provides economic benefits in those local communities.”
The inaugural members of the committee were under treasurer Leon Allen, Brighter Super chief executive Kate Farrar, Bank of Queensland managing director George Frazis, Suncorp managing director Steve Johnston, Heritage Bank chief executive Peter Lock, QTC chief executive Philip Noble, QIC chief executive Kylie Rampa and Australian Retirement Trust chief executive Bernard Reilly.
Brisbane-based law firm Gadens, prominent in the banking and financial services sector and a foundation partner of QFI, hosted the council’s inaugural meeting this week.
