Specialization in Financial Services

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Abstract

This map shows the difference between the actual employment in financial services and the expected level, based on the city's population and income. The financial services have become an important part of present-day consumption, providing a variety of banking, insurance and investment services. Some activities act like convenience retail (banks and credit unions) and others are more like retail shopping activity (stockbrokers and insurance companies). Still others are oriented to businesses, or deal with each other in concentrated financial districts in large cities. In general, smaller cities are more likely to have either high or low levels of specialization, since large cities tend to provide the full range of financial activities.

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The financial services include activities that operate like convenience retail (banks and credit unions) and those that operate like retail shopping activity (stockbrokers and insurance companies). Financial services, in general, are strongly oriented to big cities and to high-income locations.

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Photograph of a bank, Ottawa, Ontario

Geographical Description

On this map, the size of the circles is proportional to the population of the cities, while the degree of specialization for financial services is shown by the colour in the legend. Smaller centres in the Prairie provinces appear to be specialized in financial services because of their extensive market areas. Two examples of these smaller centres are Swift Current, Saskatchewan and Lloydminster, which straddles the Alberta and Saskatchewan border. Similarly, clusters of cities surrounding the Toronto and Montréal metropolitan areas attract financial activities that serve the metropolitan region. Financial services appear to avoid peripheral locations in the north and small manufacturing cities in Ontario and Quebec. Rural and urban differences in financial-activity specialization are very strong, This is especially noticeable in northern Ontario, which has low specialization compared to southern Ontario, where there is higher specialization in financial services due to the higher population of southern Ontario and its proximity to larger urban centres in the United States.

To properly interpret this map, please consult the text Data and Mapping Notes.