Fact Sheet - City Commerce

The City of Sydney is not only a beautiful and vibrant place, but also a thriving and innovative centre for commercial enterprise.

Economic Performance

• Between 1994 and 2001, the City of Sydney's economic growth rate was more than 5% - that's 1% above the Australian average.
• Given the 1997 Asian financial crisis, this performance is all the more remarkable.
• The city's economic success was not limited to income growth - its unemployment rate at the end of 2002 was 4.9%, a full 1.0% beneath the national average (6.0%).
• The city economy is becoming increasingly specialised in financial and business services, information technology and telecommunications (IT&T) and retail.

National Headquarters

• Sydney accounts for more than one-quarter (25%) of Australia's total economic activity.
• Sydney is headquarters to Australia's main financial institutions, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Australian Stock Exchange and the Sydney Futures Exchange.
• More than 90 commercial and merchant banks are headquartered in the CBD.
• Of the nation's top 100 companies, 60% are headquartered in greater Sydney, most within the CBD itself.
• Two thirds of Australia's banking and finance industry business, almost three-quarters of financial services and nearly half of Australia and New Zealand's top 500 companies are located in Sydney. Sydney has more than twice the international flight departures and two and half times the departures to Asia per week than Melbourne.

Regional Headquarters

• Sydney is regional headquarters to around 500 global corporations operating in the Asia Pacific region. This represents more than 60% of the national total.
• Just under 60% of these global corporations are based in the United States, 15% in the United Kingdom and a further 5% each in Germany and Canada.
• Significantly, one third (33%) are in the IT industry.
• Multinationals to have made Sydney their base for their Asia Pacific headquarters include American Express, British Aerospace, Coca-Cola Amatil, SITA, Krone, State Street Bank, Unilever and H.J. Heinz.
• IT&T companies with regional headquarters in Sydney include IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Compaq, Philips, SAP, Novell, AT&T, AAPT, Vodafone and Optus Cable & Wireless.
• In the recent past, Royal Bank of Canada, Western Union Financial Services, Mastercard International and Deutsche Asset Management have relocated their regional headquarters to Sydney.

The Financial Sector

• In 2002, the ASX ranked 12^th internationally in terms of size and 19^th in terms of turnover.
• In 2001, the SFE was the second largest financial futures and options exchange in the Asia Pacific and the 11^th largest in the world.
• Approximately half the City of Sydney workforce (47.1%) is employed in financial and business services.
• Nationally, Sydney accounts for:
• Almost four-fifths of all international and domestic banking;
• 34 of the 37 foreign banking groups in Australia;
• 70% of financial services groups in Australia;
• the majority of the 113 investment banks in Australia.

Business and Property Services

• In the increasingly significant global business services sector, Sydney rates among the top 10 world cities for the provision of finance, accounting, legal and marketing services.
• In 2001, there was a high concentration of legal, accounting and business consultancy firms in Sydney, with such services representing one of the fastest growing sectors of the city economy. Over the past decade, employment in this sector increased by 81%.
• Undoubtedly, this is a flow-on from growth in the city's financial sector.

The IT Industry

• Between 1986 and 1996, employment growth in computer services in the Sydney metropolitan area grew by 315%. In the City this sector of employment has risen by 80% since 1996.
• In 1999, 70% of the top 100 Australian IT companies were headquartered in Sydney, as were two-thirds of the 50 largest computer software producers.
• 65% of Australia's Internet traffic is carried by NSW-based Internet service providers, making Sydney the national leader in the Internet industry.

The Call Centre Industry

• In 1999, it was estimated that 85% of all call centres servicing the Asia Pacific region were located in Australia. Within Australia, 50% of these centres were located in Sydney.
• The Australian call centre industry was estimated to be worth almost US$6 billion, is growing at a rate of 20% per annum and employs more than 160,000 people.
• Growth in Sydney's call centre industry is facilitated by the city's technological capacity as well as its skilled and multicultural workforce.

The Retail Industry

• In 2001, the City of Sydney continued to experience a retail renaissance, recording Australia's highest retail turnover.
• Retail turnover growth in the city has consistently exceeded both Australian and State rates
• The Pitt Street Mall is Australia's busiest retail strip, boasting a passing trade of 1 million people per week.