Axiss Australia says Australia’s financial services sector is an attractive and successful industry that gives the country a powerful advantage in the Asia-Pacific region.

CEO Les Hosking says around 350,000 people – 3.5% of Australia’s workforce – are employed in the finance and insurance industries. He says the country’s skilled workforce is “a driving factor for international success”.

Axiss statistics show more than 100 global financial services firms have either established new operations or expanded their existing businesses in Australia since 2000. Australia is also believed to be the most “linguistically developed” country in the Asia-Pacific region, with more than 850,000 people fluent in an Asian language and 1.3 million in a major non-English European language.