The new strategy is to focus on strengths, learning from America, where asset management and payments technology have been focussed on city hubs outside New York.
Many jobs could be replaced by AI, including professional and well-paid white collar jobs. Think of all the lawyers who would be out of work if AI could be trusted to draw up and check contracts. The aim of trade body Scottish Financial Enterprise is to grow the sector in Scotland from £14.3bn of added value in 2021 to between £17bn and £21bn within only five years.
Emerging economies have fast-growing financial centres. The GFCI doesn't include either Glasgow or Edinburgh in the top 15 "most desirable places to live and work" or in the 15 centres most likely to grow in significance - a list headed by Seoul, Singapore and Kigali in Rwanda. That is where AI plays its part. Scottish universities are a crucial part of this strategy, providing both the research expertise and the graduates to make the strategy happen. They have been important to more than 200 fintech companies being set up in Scotland. Some succeed by being bought over.