More than 40% of Australia’s 112,000 overseas tertiary students studying at Australian universities are undertaking studies related to financial services disciplines, according to Government advisory group Axiss Australia.

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In a bulletin released yesterday, the agency said the high quality of Australia’s workforce is a powerful competitive advantage in attracting regional financial services activity. “It is cited as the most compelling factor for doing more business in and from Australia by the 80-plus financial services firms that have set up new, or expanded existing operations, in Australia over the last two-and-a-half years,” Axiss said.

Axiss was established by the Federal Government in 1999 to position Australia as a global financial services centre in the Asian time zone. It said Australia’s financial services workforce, which currently totals around 353,000 people – 60% more than Hong Kong and Singapore combined – “continues to be the Asia-Pacific’s most skilled”.