London’s position as the world’s leading financial centre has boosted growth of the UK’s management consultancy market.

The latest figures from the Management Consultancies Association reveal that its members, who represent two-thirds of the UK consulting industry, saw 16% growth to £5.4bn in 2006.

The whole of the industry is estimated to be worth £7.7bn.

MCA chief executive officer Peter Hill said a year of healthy growth had been achieved through expansion in the financial stature of the capital city.

‘London’s growth in its financial stature has drawn activity away from other financial centres and has fuelled investment in IT,’ said Hill.

Financial services consulting work was one of the fastest growing sectors, increasing by 31% to £1.1bn. Efforts to improve IT in the financial services industry saw the service line post strong figures.

IT consulting as a whole grew to £1.5bn, up 24% on 2005. Financial management consulting, an area the big accountancy firms are trying to break into, boomed, up 28% to £415m in 2006.