Greetings From Scotland

The first conversation I had upon arriving on Scottish soil was with a customs officer who made note of my stated profession and industry of "EDITOR/MEDIA" as written on my U.K. Landing Card.

"Business trip," he asked.

"Yes."

"What are you covering," the customs agent followed up.

"Financial technology," I replied, my lack of sleep on the six-hour redeye from Newark Liberty International contributing to my rare inability to produce long-winded answers.

"Then you've come to the right place," he stated, waving me through customs at Edinburgh Airport.

I'm spending the next several days in Edinburgh and Glasgow on a whirlwind tour of the country's financial business process outsourcing industry. The visit, put together by international business outreach agencyScottish Development International, will take me to the offices of Martin Currie, Sykes Enterprises, Barclays Bank and Morgan Stanley, as well as Scottish Parliament among others.

It looks to be a busy start to the week, and an opportunity to gain a better understanding of Europe's financial industry I'm excited to share.

More to come.