Missouri is home to many highly competitive banks, insurance companies and tax preparation companies including Commerce Bank, State Farm and H&R Block. Missouri has also recently experienced high levels of growth in investment and financing. According to a recent study by the Boyd Company, Inc.- an independent site selection consulting service- Missouri's two largest metropolitan areas, St. Louis and Kansas city, both ranked among the 25 markets in the nation for lowest costs of operating headquarters.

• Missouri is home to the regional headquarters of several large banks, including Bank of America, Regions Bank, and U.S. Bancorp, as well as the headquarters for Commerce Bank and UMB Bank-- two of the top 10 banks in the nation in 2010 according to Forbes.
• MasterCard Worldwide’s global technology operations center in O’Fallon, MO processes every transaction in the world that involves Mastercard.
• The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City processes more than 1 million checks a day.
• The Kansas City Board of Trade is the second oldest commodities exchange in the nation.
• Missouri is the only state with two Federal Reserve Banks.

Missouri's workforce has the education that companies in the Financial industry require:

• Missouri ranks 10th for financial sector employment growth over the past decade (American City Business Journals.}
• 390,500, or nearly 15%, of the 2.67 million workers in Missouri are employed in core occupations relevant to the Financial and Professional Services Industry.
• Over 30 Missouri Colleges and Universities offer Associate or higher degrees in Finance or Accounting.
• 86.9% of Missouri's population over 25 (over 3 million people) has attained a high school diploma or higher, exceeding the national average of 85.6%.
• In 2009, 85,021 post-secondary degrees/certificates were awarded in the state. Of those, 38,370 were bachelor's degrees, 19,512 were master's degrees and 3,501 were doctorates. The numbers of degrees awarded in all categories exceeded the national average.
• Washington University's undergraduate business degree program is ranked 14th by U.S. News and World Report.
• Over 1 million Missourians hold a Bachelor’s degree or higher (U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey).

Central Bancompany Inc.: (HQ Jefferson City) Central Bancompany, Inc. operates as the holding company for Central Trust Bank, which provides personal and business financial services in Missouri.

Commerce Bancshares: (HQ Kansas City) Commerce Bancshares is a $17.5 billion regional bank holding company currently operating in approximately 350 locations in Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Oklahoma and Colorado.

DST Systems, Inc.: (HQ Kansas City) Founded in 1969 as a division of Kansas City Southern Industries, DST was  established to develop an automated recordkeeping system for the mutual fund industry. DST is the largest  provider of third-party shareholder recordkeeping services in the United States today.

Edward Jones:  (HQ St. Louis) Edward Jones is an investment brokerage network serving some 7 million clients, with offices in all 50 states, plus Canada and the U.K.

H&R Block: (HQ Kansas City) H&R Block is the world's largest tax preparation business, employing 100,000 tax professionals and having served more than 400 million clients.

Scottrade: (HQ St. Louis) Scotttrade is one of the largest online brokerages in the US. The company also maintains a network of brokers at more than 425 branch offices in nearly all 50 states, with concentrations on both coasts.

UMB Financial Corp.: (HQ Kansas City) UMB provides banking and related financial services in seven states - Missouri, Illinois, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Arizona.

Veterans United: (HQ Columbia) Veterans United is the nation's leading dedicated provider of VA home loans. The company was co-founded by two University of Missouri alumni.