York ranked third cash richest city in UK, new study reveals

York has been named the third cash richest city in the UK, according to a new study.

DueDil, the private company information platform, has conducted a study into which region has the largest share of the UK’s cash by looking into the amount of cash present in unconsolidated business accounts across the country.

With £13bn in business bank accounts, York is ranked the third cash richest city.

The most cash rich city in the UK is London, with £274.5bn in business bank accounts across the capital.

Joining London and York in the top five richest cities are Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham.

York has more cash in business bank accounts than nearby Leeds. Aviva Life & Pensions UK Ltd, based in York, is the fifth richest company in the UK with £9.9bn in available funds, which is thought to be a contributing factor in York ranking as the third richest city.

Aviva subsidiaries also dominate the top five cash richest companies in York. East Coast Main Line Company Limited (trading as Virgin Trains East Coast) is the fourth richest company based in York, with £94.1m in available funds.

Out of all UK regions, Yorkshire and the Humber has £19.4bn in cash making it the third richest region in the UK. The region has more in available funds than the North West and North East of England combined.

In total, there is a total of £366bn sitting in business accounts across the UK.

The overall sum of cash conserved by UK businesses has increased by 17% to £61.9bn from the previous year.

Damian Kimmelman, CEO and co-founder of DueDil, said: “Our findings suggest that businesses might be reserving money for a rainy day, perhaps amid the uncertainty ahead of Brexit.

“Additionally, with the recent Bank of England base rate, the boost in reserves will also provide a cushion to businesses looking to grow as the cost of borrow increases.

“Such data is essential for better understanding businesses and is key to ensuring the future of British businesses. With more data, banks and alternative lenders can reimagine financing models and lend to support the business forming the backbone of the economy.”

The cash figures have been collected using the DueDil database utilising filters for cash, location and financial reports, meaning the companies must have more than £100k cash within unconsolidated accounts, be based in the UK and have filed reports since Jan 2016.