Out of the 22,305 businesses in the City of London, 3,400 are within the finance and insurance sphere, the firm said in a statement. 

Second on the list is Salford, located in Greater Manchester, with 13 per cent of finance and insurance businesses located in the area, out of a total number of 10,910.

Cumbria’s county town Carlisle comes in at third place, with 625 finance and insurance businesses, out of a total of 5,180. In Carlisle, however, the industry that counts for the most business is the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors, the study reveals.  

The firm analysed ONS data on the total number of businesses present across more than 400 districts, counties and unitary authorities in the UK, and compared them with the number of businesses in the finance and insurance sector, to discover where the highest concentration of finance companies were located. 

The Borough of Waverley comes in fourth place. Located in Surrey, Waverley has 8,235 businesses, 810 of which belong to the finance and insurance industry. 

The top five closes with Stevenage, in Hertfordshire. The city has 3,185 businesses, 275 of which are in finance and insurance, the firm continued.  

Another location worth mentioning is Westminster, in London, which houses 53,370 businesses, of which only 4,290 are within the finance sphere, resulting in a lower percentage regardless of the high numbers, the study found.   

This is followed by Leicester in seventh place, where there are 14,592 businesses, but only 1,155 are in finance and insurance. 

A spokesperson for CMC Markets said: “It is interesting to see how, apart from the locations within London present in the list, the other finance capitals of the UK are situated in less obvious areas, such as Salford and Carlisle, or Blaby in Leicestershire.” 

“This proves how the UK is fairly balanced when it comes to financial businesses, and there are clearly plenty of opportunities for people seeking a career in the sector without having to move to London,” the spokesperson added.