Activity update

It has been a busy Autumn, with good momentum across the breadth of our programme and key outcomes delivered. As we head into the winter months, there remains plenty on our agenda. 

Trust and reputation 

Across September and October we attended the major party conferences, including the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, Labour and SNP, with meetings, events and activity taking place to engage a range of key policymakers and senior stakeholders.

Our fringe events at both Conservative and Labour Party Conferences drew a good audience and provided a great opportunity to discuss the key themes from the latest iteration of our annual ‘Enabling growth across the UK’ report. Alongside members, regulators and media, we were joined by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury and the Shadow Economic Secretary on our fringe panels at Conservative and Labour Conferences respectively. Both covered a range of issues, with our Labour event also discussing how the industry can support Labour’s vision for sustainable economic growth.

At the Conservative Party Conference (CPC), we co-sponsored the ConservativeHome/1922 Committee Reception, which saw our CEO, Miles Celic, share a platform with the Prime Minister. At Labour Party Conference (LPC), we sponsored the New Statesman Reception, with Miles speaking alongside the Mayor of London and the Shadow Education Secretary. Both these events provided us and our members a great opportunity to network with MPs and political advisers. We are also very grateful to JP Morgan, who partnered with us on a member dinner at the start of CPC, with Emily Shepherd, COO at the FCA, and Gareth Davies MP, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury; and to Barclays, who partnered with us on a networking reception at LPC, at which the Shadow Economic Secretary spoke alongside Emma Reynolds, our Managing Director for Public Affairs, Policy & Research.

At the Liberal Democrats Conference, we hosted a breakfast meeting for Prospective Parliamentary Candidates in partnership with UK Finance and kindly sponsored by BlackRock, with a good discussion focused on the role of our industry in delivering growth and accelerating the net-zero transition. We also joined the panel of a Social Market Foundation fringe event and attended the conference’s business day, which offered us a great opportunity to engage with Sarah Olney MP, the party’s Business and Treasury Spokesperson. At the SNP Conference, we partnered with the City of London Corporation to host a discussion focused on green finance as a vehicle for Scotland’s growth, featuring Tom Arthur MSP, Minister for Community Wealth & Public Finance.

Following the party conferences, we have maintained engagement with key political stakeholders. We’ve held several policymaker roundtables, including a discussion about Labour’s approach to the union and the industry with Ian Murray, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland; the Liberal Democrats’ approach to business and their objectives for the General Election with their Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper MP; and conversations around encouraging investment to Northern Ireland with Claire Hanna MP for Belfast South.

Regions and nations

Earlier this month, we launched the latest iteration of our ‘Exporting from across Britain’ report, at a Department for Business and Trade event in Liverpool during International Trade Week. The report, which provides analysis of the latest available data (2021) on industry exports from across Great Britain, shows that around half (47%) of all industry exports originated outside London, with the South East, Scotland and the North West making the largest exports contributions and the majority of exports (78%) going to non-EU countries.

Our 2023 National Conference, sponsored by PwC, will take place this year in Manchester on 23 November. The event, also supported by interactive investor, will focus on the industry’s contribution across the regions and nations. We’re delighted to welcome a great line-up of speakers, including the new Economic Secretary to the Treasury, BiM Afolami MP, Dame Angela Eagle DBE MP and an in conversation with the Rt Hon Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester.

Following the launch of our ‘Enabling growth across the UK 2023’ report, we held an afternoon reception in Parliament bringing together members and a cross-party group of MPs and Peers to learn more about the impact our industry makes in their constituencies and wider region. Guests heard speeches from Miles Celic, Stephen Hammond MP and Katharine Finn, our Regional Chair for the South West, and Senior Partner, Bristol Office, PwC. We have also published a series of blogs on our website, which consider in more detail some of the policy recommendations from the report and case studies of the industry’s thriving financial hubs across the UK.

International  

We recently completed a review of our International Strategy to assess progress made over the last two years, achievements to date and where adjustments are needed to respond to geopolitical shifts and new areas of opportunity. The updated strategy has been endorsed by our International Trade and Investment Group, chaired by Edward Braham of M&G, and shared with members at our recent member briefing.

The first EU-UK Regulatory Forum was held on 19 October, with the Europe Market Advisory Group (MAG) and IRSG EU Regulatory Working Group coordinating industry input to HM Treasury (HMT), outlining key asks around time critical topics, as well as medium-term areas for collaboration. We will continue to engage with HMT to ensure industry input becomes an ongoing feature of all future Forum meetings.

We have just returned from a trip to the US, following a series of productive meetings and events with members, senior stakeholders and policymakers in Washington DC and New York to discuss strengthening ties between our two industries and initiatives to support innovation and digital cooperation. Following member interest in the Outward Investment Executive Order in the USA, we submitted comments to US Treasury seeking clarity on which transactions will fall in scope and the impact of the proposed rules on US nationals working for UK-based firms – and discussed this with them when in the US. On the back of this, we were delighted to host Paul Rosen, Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury for Investment Security, in London for a follow-up discussion with members.

We led a senior business delegation to the India-UK Economic and Finance Dialogue in September in New Delhi on the back of the G20 Leaders’ Summit, where members of the India-UK Financial Partnership (IUKFP) met with the Indian Finance Minister and UK Chancellor of the Exchequer to present industry’s recommendations for strengthening regulatory cooperation and enhancing bilateral trade and investment. We were pleased to see a positive response on overseas listings and FinTech regulation, and to receive a strong mandate to take forward IUKFP workstreams on data, AI and machine learning, and sustainable finance.

As part of our work to support the UK industry for future success in one of the fastest-growing parts of the Indo-Pacific, we travelled to Jakarta for the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit and Indo-Pacific Forum, and held bilateral meetings with Indonesian stakeholders to improve market access and identify opportunities around the new capital city, Nusantara. This was followed by meetings in Singapore to leverage the UK’s strategic partnership agreement with the city state and plan the future work programme around transition finance and FinTech. We were pleased to support the Indonesia Investment Forum in London in October, where we met with the Governor of Bank Indonesia to discuss Indonesia’s payments landscape and ambitions to attract more foreign direct investment. We were delighted to host the ASEAN Secretary-General, H.E. Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, and the UK Ambassador to ASEAN, Sarah Tiffin, for a meeting with our ASEAN Market Advisory Group and a market open at the London Stock Exchange.

With great support from members keen to build their market presence in Vietnam, we are supporting the development of an International Financial and Business Centre. This work has been recognised as a flagship initiative for the 50 years of diplomatic relations by the Government of Vietnam. This will be formalised by a signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between TheCityUK and the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment at the end of November in Hanoi.

Reflecting the industry’s strong commitment to Ukraine, we have been working with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and members to strengthen the private sector’s role in its reconstruction and recovery. We will shortly start the implementation of a ‘City-Ukraine Hub’ project that will focus on the development of an international financial centre in Kyiv, capital markets development, business-to-business support, as well as capacity building to the Government of Ukraine. The initiative will be formalised by a signing of MoU between TheCityUK, London Stock Exchange Group and the Ministry of Economy.

Long-term competitiveness

We recently held our second Future Leaders’ Dinner, in partnership with Mayer Brown, welcoming around 160 members, including current and alumni members of our Next Generation Leadership Council (NGLC). During the dinner, guests heard from Bruce Carnegie-Brown, Nishma Gosrani OBE of Bain & Company, who delivered remarks on behalf of the NGLC, and Stephen Bush, Associate Editor and Columnist of the Financial Times. The event was a great success with excellent feedback from those who attended. Several NGLC members also recently joined a bespoke Leaders’ Retreat developed for the group in collaboration with the Moller Institute in Cambridge.

Preparations are well underway for our inaugural Future Skills Conference with the Financial Services Skills Commission, kindly sponsored by Yorkshire Building Society. The event will take place on 5 March in London and focus on how the industry can ensure it attracts, retains and retrains the skills and talent it needs for the future and continues to drive growth across the wider economy. You can register to attend the event through our website.

Green finance and sustainability  

With COP28 just around the corner, considerable work has been taking place on how to deliver a coordinated UK industry voice and promote the UK as a leading international financial centre for green and sustainable finance. As part of our COP28 programme, we will be hosting a roundtable on transition finance in partnership with BNP Paribas in Dubai.

We continue to engage with key stakeholders related to this agenda and earlier in the month held a well-attended roundtable event with Sacha Sadan, ESG Director of the FCA, to discuss how industry and the regulators can work together to strengthen the UK’s position as a hub for green and sustainable finance, international collaboration on interoperability and standards, and building trust in ESG-labelled instruments.