Financial and Professional Services

Cologne – a bustling business metropolis

The financial and professional services sector – which includes insurance/InsurTech, banking, consulting, real estate and corporate services, amongst others – is soaring in Cologne. International companies that choose to expand into the Rhenish capital or set up here will be off to a flying start due to several locational advantages: easy access to professional talent, proximity to many important customers and comparatively low commercial rents. In total, some 106,000 employees work within the sector’s close-knit ecosystem of 12,873 companies, generating an overall turnover of more than 13.4 billion Euros.

12800 Companies
106000 Employees
13.4 bil Euros revenue/year

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When choosing a location, it was important to us, among other things, that the Rhein-Main and Rhineland departments were more easily accessible to one another. The journey time between our location in Cologne-Deutz and the Frankfurt headquarters is only around an hour with the ICE.
Bernd O. Engelien, Head of Public Affairs & Communications, Zurich Group Germany
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Cologne is a very good insurance location, has solid infrastructure and excellent research and educational facilities. That attracts a lot of well-trained people who want to make a difference. You could also call Cologne the city of diversity. The people who live here are as different as the city itself - that fits very well with Canada Life and our Canadian roots.
Britta Renno, director of HR Management and Corporate Communications, Canada Life
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Cologne stands out as a location for networking, as the people of Cologne are very sociable and people talk at eye level. Furthermore,with the University of Cologne and the Cologne University of Technology, we have many graduates on site who often want to stay in Cologne after their studies and are looking for a job. That helps to find good employees.
Ralf Pispers, CEO, Personal Business Machine
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For Ubirch there are three good reasons for the company location Cologne: Our customers, our (potential) employees, and a high quality of life.
Cosima Gräf, Head of Marketing, UBIRCH GmbH

Growth higher in Cologne than German average

In retrospective, annual turnover growth (from 2009 to 2019) across most of the sector’s sub-segments considerably exceeded the corresponding national average. The driving forces behind Cologne’s healthy growth were, above all, corporate services and the insurance sector, which benefited from the success of regional business clients. In addition, a number of international consulting firms (Frank Recruitment Group, Robert Walters and Arctic Shores, all from the UK, FIABILIS Consulting Group from Belgium and Sustainalize from the Netherlands) as well as insurance companies (Zurich and SCOR) opened offices in Cologne, creating a dynamic cluster of European professional and financial services.

- KölnBusiness

A magnet for global insurance companies

The insurance industry has traditionally been an important pillar of Cologne's economy and a major employer. More than 130 national and international insurers and reisurers are located here.

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Our industry experts are happy to help you.
Amadeus van Lier

Foreign Investment Advisor

Financial and Professional Services