Client Engagement Team Lead - Preqin

Why international employers are choosing Scotland over London. (Image: Bazoom Group) When an international company decides to hire in the UK, London is usually the first city that comes to mind, and increasingly the last one it settles on. A growing number of overseas employers, particularly in tech and financial services, are choosing Edinburgh and Glasgow instead, and the reasoning has little to do with novelty. Scotland's technology sector is heading into 2026 in genuinely active shape: more than seven in ten Scottish tech businesses are optimistic about the year ahead, 58 per cent reported rising sales in 2025, and 84 per cent expect sales growth in 2026. That is not a market coasting on reputation. It is one that international employers can hire into with confidence right now. What's actually drawing companies there. The recent hiring activity backs this up. BlackRock has expanded its Edinburgh office to a larger site as it continues investing in its Edinburgh-based teams, and US-founded mobile security firm Approov opened a new Edinburgh headquarters in late 2025 specifically to expand engineering, product, sales, and customer success teams in the city. Neither company chose Edinburgh as a stopgap. Both describe it as a long-term base for growth. Cost plays a real role too, though not in the way it is sometimes framed. Edinburgh's tech salaries rank second in the UK behind only London, but the cost of living runs considerably lower, one comparison puts Edinburgh's living costs at roughly 43 per cent below London's, meaning a company is not choosing Edinburgh to pay less for the same talent. It is choosing a market where strong talent goes further for both the employer and the employee. The wider deal activity around Scottish companies tells a similar story. A recent roundup of Scottish companies attracting international interest pointed to Standard Life's planned £2 billion acquisition of Edinburgh-headquartered Aegon UK, and a £52 million funding round for Edinburgh legal AI firm Wordsmith.ai, whose technology is now used by companies including BT, the Financial Times and Canva. The same piece described Glasgow's deep technical research base and Edinburgh's AI ecosystem as the foundations behind this interest, not a one-off cluster of good news. Why Edinburgh and Glasgow specifically. This is a two-city story, not a general Scotland story. Edinburgh and Glasgow account for the overwhelming majority of Scotland's inward investment activity and consistently rank among the UK's top cities for foreign direct investment outside London, according to EY's Scotland Attractiveness Survey. Aberdeen, once a fixture of that conversation through oil and gas investment, has recently dropped out of the UK's top ten cities for this kind of activity as that sector has cooled. For a company deciding where to place a UK team today, Edinburgh and Glasgow are where the current activity, and the talent pool behind it, actually sits. The practical problem once you pick a city. Choosing Edinburgh or Glasgow answers where. It does not answer how. An international employer making its first UK hire still has to decide whether to set up a full UK entity, with its own registration, payroll, and tax filings, or to use a structure that lets someone start working sooner. This is where an employer of record uk arrangement fits. It allows a company to employ someone in Edinburgh or Glasgow compliantly under UK employment law without incorporating first, which matters most when a company is testing whether one hire becomes a team, rather than committing to a full UK presence from day one. That distinction is not academic. UK employment law carries specific obligations around contracts, statutory benefits, and termination that differ from a company's home market, and getting them wrong on a first hire creates exposure well before the company has any UK revenue to show for it. An EOR structure puts that compliance on someone who already handles it daily, while the company focuses on whether the hire, and the market, are working out.

BlackRock expands tokenization push with Ondo Finance partnership. 40 minutes ago BlackRock and Ondo Finance have launched tokenized model portfolios on blockchain networks, expanding access to traditional assets. The partnership introduces three digital portfolios that combine stocks, bonds, and Bitcoin ETFs based on different strategies. The move strengthens the growing connection between traditional finance products and blockchain-based markets. BlackRock and Ondo Finance expand tokenized portfolios. BlackRock has partnered with Ondo Finance to introduce three tokenized model portfolios through the blockchain platform. The portfolios focus on high growth, diversified growth, and high income strategies. Each product tracks a different mix of traditional assets and digital market exposure. The launch forms part of Ondo Finance's rollout of seven tokenized model portfolios across its platform. The company will issue digital tokens that represent the performance of each portfolio. Furthermore, automated software will purchase underlying assets when users acquire the digital tokens. The tokenized portfolios will initially serve markets outside the United States, while enabling round-the-clock trading access. The products allow blockchain users to gain exposure to traditional financial assets through digital representations. However, the portfolios remain linked to the performance of their underlying investments. BlackRock has expanded its tokenization strategy as financial firms explore blockchain-based infrastructure. The asset manager previously launched tokenized money market funds to support digital finance applications. Therefore, the latest partnership adds another step in BlackRock's broader blockchain expansion. Ondo Finance also recently partnered with Near Protocol to launch tokenized stocks and exchange-traded products. The collaboration introduced 20 assets, including Tesla, NVIDIA, Apple, and QQQ products. Consequently, Ondo continues expanding its role in tokenized financial markets. The partnership highlights the increasing demand for blockchain-based versions of traditional investment products. Financial institutions are using tokenization to create digital access points for existing assets. Meanwhile, platforms like Ondo Finance continue building infrastructure for these products. OnD O token gains after tokenization plans. The ONDO token recorded double-digit gains following news of the BlackRock partnership and portfolio launch. The token traded near $0.48, representing a rise of more than 16% based on TradingView data. The increase came despite weakness across the wider cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin declined toward $83,000 during the same period, creating mixed conditions across digital assets. However, ONDO maintained positive momentum after gaining more than 37% during the week. The token also moved into yearly gains, rising over 33% year-to-date. The price movement followed increased attention around Ondo Finance's tokenization activities. The platform has positioned itself as a major provider of blockchain-based financial products. Furthermore, new partnerships have expanded its presence across multiple blockchain ecosystems. Ondo Finance has also faced internal challenges following the death of founder Nathan Allman. Family members and an early investor have sought control of the company. The dispute has created legal challenges surrounding the platform's leadership structure. Despite the leadership issues, Ondo Finance continues advancing its tokenization plans through new partnerships. The company remains focused on connecting traditional assets with blockchain networks. Therefore, the BlackRock collaboration represents a significant development for its product expansion. The launch reflects a wider shift toward digital versions of financial instruments. Asset managers and blockchain companies are developing systems that combine traditional markets with decentralized technology. As a result, tokenized portfolios are becoming a growing segment within digital finance. Risk & affiliate notice: Crypto assets are volatile and capital is at risk. This article may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure Mawira is crypto-enthusiastic with more than 3 years of experience in managing Google News-approved Finance websites. Mawira has a strong background in finance with a thorough understanding of cryptos and a solid grip on the crypto and financial market industry.

Invesco taps BlackRock's Tim Clavin for ETF Capital Markets. DJ Shaw September 24, 2026 Invesco has hired a BlackRock ETF trading executive to lead its ETF capital markets team in the Americas. Key takeaways: * Tim Clavin moves to Invesco after about two years at BlackRock and nearly a decade at Vanguard. * Equal weighting keeps RSP from leaning on the largest S&P 500 stocks, and the fund has drawn steady inflows. * QQQM has drawn more new money this year than QQQ despite holding far less in assets. Tim Clavin shared the news on LinkedIn, saying he is "starting a new position as Head of ETF Capital Markets, Americas at Invesco." His profile lists a September 2026 start date. Clavin joins from BlackRock, where he was a vice president for about two years, according to his LinkedIn profile. There, he led ETF trading solutions for institutional and wealth clients and sat on the U.S. ETF markets leadership team. Before BlackRock, he spent nearly 10 years at The Vanguard Group, Inc., his profile shows. His roles there ranged from foreign exchange and rates trading, including time in London, to managing index and ETF bond products. Capital markets teams work with trading firms to keep ETF shares trading smoothly near the value of fund holdings. At Invesco, the five largest ETFs alone hold about $751 billion, according to ETF Database. That job can look different from one fund to the next. Some of Invesco's biggest ETFs trade millions of shares daily, ETF Database data shows. Others see less trading but steady inflows from long-term investors. A closer look at Invesco's largest ETFs. The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) leads the lineup with $501.5 billion in assets, according to ETF Database. It also trades about 37.2 million shares a day on average, the most of their top five funds. Its lower-cost sibling, the Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF (QQQM), holds $110 billion and charges 0.15% a year, ETF Database data shows. That compares with 0.18% for QQQ, though both track the Nasdaq-100 Index. The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) ranks third, with $97.3 billion, according to ETF Database. Rather than letting the biggest companies dominate, it gives each S&P 500 stock roughly the same weight. The fund has also taken in $13.7 billion in net inflows this year. Two factor funds, which pick stocks based on specific traits, round out the top five, according to ETF Database. The Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF (SPMO) holds $23.5 billion in stocks with the strongest recent price gains. It is up 28.1% year to date, the best of the five. Meanwhile, the Invesco S&P 500 Quality ETF (SPHQ) holds $18.8 billion in profitable companies carrying low debt, ETF Database data shows. New money has favored the cheaper Nasdaq-100 option. QQQM has drawn $22.2 billion in net inflows this year, more than five times QQQ's $4.1 billion, ETF Database shows. Invesco Distributors, Inc. is an independent company unaffiliated with VettaFi LLC ("VettaFi"). These articles do not form any kind of legal partnership, agency affiliation, or similar relationship between VettaFi and Invesco Distributors, Inc., nor is such a relationship created or implied by the articles herein. VettaFi LLC is the author and owner of these articles. Related topics.