The general election in July may feel like a distant memory, but since the new Labour government took office, we have moved quickly to connect with key stakeholders across relevant departments and Parliament, and engage with its busy legislative and policy programme. We have also been active in putting forward the industry’s views on issues such as risk and business taxation and right across our programme of work, we’ve been busy progressing activity that will ultimately deliver a range of key outcomes for members.
We have received the results of our 2024 member survey, which I’m pleased to report were overall very positive, with some helpful areas for ongoing focus. Thank you to members who contributed to the survey – your feedback is invaluable in ensuring that we continue to deliver on expectations and focus our work in the right areas.
Trust and reputation
In recent weeks, we have been well engaged with the new government, including joining an introductory meeting with the Economic Secretary to the Treasury; attending the launch of the government’s planning review with the Chancellor and Financial Secretary; participating in a pensions reform roundtable at the invitation of Pensions Minister and securing attendance from key ministers at our various party conference events. We will also be bringing members together with key ministers over the coming weeks. In the run up to the Budget, we will be running a session for parliamentary researchers to help to build their knowledge of the industry as they prepare briefings for their MPs ahead of the Finance Bill debate.
We have actively engaged with policymakers and members at the recent Party Conferences. At Labour’s event we welcomed the Pensions Minister to speak at a reception co-hosted with Barclays, and partnered with the ABI to host an ‘in conversation’ with the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and a drinks reception with the Chancellor. The Economic Secretary also joined our CEO and senior industry leaders at our fringe panel event to discuss the contribution our industry can make to driving inclusive growth.
At the Conservative Party Conference we were pleased to once again sponsor the 1922 Drinks Reception at which the leadership candidates addressed the audience. We hosted a panel event with ConHome where the discussion centred around how the financial and related professional services industry can help enable growth across the UK. We also attended the Liberal Democrats event, holding a breakfast for a number of MPs on economic growth and funding the net-zero transition.
We have submitted our representation to the Chancellor ahead of the Autumn Budget, taking the opportunity to reinforce the importance of tax predictability and stability to UK competitiveness. We have set out industry views on carried interest specifically at a recent HMT-organised roundtable and been vocal through the media about the impact on investment and competitiveness of these and other potential tax changes.
Our 2024 Annual Conference, sponsored by Fidelity International, attracted near record attendance, with delegates hearing from a great range of speakers, including Lord Sedwill, former Cabinet Secretary, who joined an in-conversation with Anne Richards DBE. At the event, also sponsored by Citadel Securities, DLA Piper, DTCC, Guernsey Finance and RepRisk, we also welcomed Bloomberg Radio, who broadcast their flagship morning show, Daybreak Europe, live from the venue for the second year running.
Planning is well underway for our National Conference, sponsored by PwC, in Birmingham on 26 November. Also sponsored by Guernsey Finance and State Street, the event has a strong speaker line-up, including a Treasury Minister, and will focus on the industry’s contribution across the UK and its role in enabling inclusive growth. If you haven’t yet registered to attend, you can book via our website.
Long term competitiveness
With planning reform high on the government’s agenda and an area where our industry has a key role to play, we have submitted to the Planning Review. We are also taking forward detailed work on the first stage of the Pensions Review through our Capital Markets Group. In our response to the government’s Pensions Investment Review call for evidence, we set out our support for a more consolidated future DC market, stressing the need for an intelligent approach to consolidation while maintaining focus on ensuring the attractiveness of investing in the UK.
We remain focused on ensuring the regulators are held to account on their secondary objective for competitiveness and growth. We are feeding into the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) next five year strategy, which will be published in Spring 2025, with particular focus on ensuring this objective is given suitable prominence. We have also convened a group of cross-economy trade bodies and are engaging with the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to input on plans to establish the Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO). This work is likely to proceed at pace, with no regulators out of scope, and DBT is in discussion with HM Treasury (HMT) about Financial Services elements.
As part of our ongoing activity to enhance the attractiveness of the UK as a place to invest, we have been taking forward work on the role of public-private finance in unlocking domestic and international investment in the UK. Our recent event with Sarah Gordon, Visiting Professor in Practice, Grantham Research Institute at LSE, on the key enablers and models to scale public-private finance was a useful forum and following the announcement of the National Wealth Fund, we will be engaging with government on its design and investment strategy. This will be focused on ensuring the effective mobilisation of public and private capital to fund the UK’s transition to a low carbon economy.
We were successful in having government defer its decision on the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS), with a decision now not expected until 2025. We have also been asked to contribute to the Strategic Defence Review, headed by Lord Robertson, with a member group being formed to input into this.
Our AI working group recently met with the FCA, Bank of England and the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF) to discuss how they are incorporating AI into the existing regulatory regime. We are working with members to identify specific barriers to industry adoption of AI to feedback to HMT and the regulators.
