The Victorian government is to embark on an aggressive campaign to launch the state as major centre for financial services.
The Victorian government is to embark on an aggressive campaign to launch the state as major centre for financial services.
Premier Steve Bracks says the government plans to woo financial services invest-ment to Victoria and challenge Sydney’s current domination.
“The new Victorian government … will work aggressively to attract new invest-ment from this sector to our state,” he says.
His comments come amidst federal government initiatives designed to attract global financial services groups to Australia. There has been a perception in the Melbourne financial services community that Sydney was being favoured as the destination being pushed by Financial Services minister Joe Hockey.
Bracks denies his drive to put Victoria on the map as a major financial services player is driven by traditional interstate commercial rivalry. There are national ad-vantages in building strong regional financial service centres in Melbourne as well as Sydney, he says.
“And that we develop a regional presence in financial services on the basis of co-operation, rather than competition between cities, states and regions,” he says.
