Financial services companies, investment companies and the insurance industry in Georgia are better positioned to capitalize on trends that will determine their future growth. Georgia’s strong entrepreneurial activity, well-trained workforce and technology infrastructure serve to help these companies build a competitive advantage in service and increase profits.
Growth for investment firms, banks and other financial companies requires finding more small business customers. Georgia ranks first in the U.S. for entrepreneurship, according to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity (March 2011) and has had the largest increase in entrepreneurship of any state in the past decade, providing a healthy marketplace for financial services.
Financial companies in Georgia also are able to improve transactions and strengthen customer relationships. A fiber optic data infrastructure optimized for high-demand data and telecomm traffic helps companies assure speed of processing and mitigates risk.
BENEFITS
Financial services companies in Georgia can:
- Quickly ramp up staffing by accessing a pipeline of talent. More than 6,000 students earn degrees in finance-related programs (not including Associates Degrees) each year from Georgia colleges and universities
- Receive free, customized employee training by Quick Start, the nation’s top-ranked workforce training program
- Gain up to five years of tax credits for job creation—as much as $4,000 per job, per year
- Develop new business with the help of experts in Georgia’s Department of Economic Development. They provide financial companies with research and data as well as open doors both within the U.S. and in 10 international cities
- Benefit from a premium tax rate of 2.25 percent on gross direct premiums received by insurers
FINANCIAL SERVICES AND INSURANCE COMPANIES IN GEORGIA
The combination of skilled workers, technology and small-business growth has fueled success for financial and insurance industry leaders in Georgia, including Sun Trust Banks, Synovus Financial Corporation, Aflac, First Data, Global Payments, Fleetcor Technologies, Total System Services, Inc. (TSYS), Elavon, Assurant and Travelers.