Mansion House reforms will make London the destination of choice for financial services
The Chancellor’s Mansion House speech sets out a new strategy to cut bureaucracy in the UK’s financial services sector, aiming to drive investment, support businesses and savers, and restore the country’s status as a global financial leader, says Emma Reynolds
For too long, our most promising businesses have been held back by a system that doesn’t support them to grow and deprives working people of security and opportunities.
Britain is a financial services superpower, yet growth in the sector has stalled for over a decade – with red tape tightening its grip over time, getting in the way of investment and making it harder for British companies to succeed in an increasingly competitive global market.
The Leeds Reforms are a tidal shift in thinking. A strategy for the next decade and beyond to make Britain the best place to do business once again, so that financial services firms around the world are queuing up to invest here.
Our reforms sweep away unnecessary bureaucracy and create a more proportionate and predictable system that makes it easier for new firms to start, scale and list
We are building on the UK’s core strengths: world-class talent, a culture of innovation, and a reputation for robust – but not burdensome – regulation. Our reforms sweep away unnecessary bureaucracy and create a more proportionate and predictable system that makes it easier for new firms to start, scale and list.
Having delivered stability through fixing the public finances and our ironclad fiscal rules, this is an opportunity to drive investment right into the heart of our cities and regions – connecting businesses with the skills and expertise that places like Leeds, Glasgow and Cardiff possess in abundance.
Working people will reap the rewards
Working people will reap the rewards of a financial system rewired to support them, including more help for first-time buyers on lower incomes to secure their dream of homeownership.
The same goes for savers, who will be given the information and support they need to start investing responsibly and get better returns. Boosting our investment culture is not easy, with retail investment in this country lower than any other in the G7.
But there’s a broad consensus that it could support families’ financial health and resilience. More than 29m UK adults have money languishing in low-interest accounts, typically earning just one per cent. Over the past decade, stocks and shares have delivered average returns close to nine per cent a year. If someone moved £2,000 from cash savings to stocks and shares, they could be over £9,000 better off after 20 years.
Investing would help boost the economy too, connecting finance with promising businesses so they can grow and create more opportunities for local communities.
This vision is part of our wider Modern Industrial Strategy, doubling down on the UK’s global strengths like financial services to attract more investment.
None of this happens in a vacuum. These reforms are the product of deep collaboration with industry, regulators and experts. Our Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, published alongside the Leeds Reforms, sets a clear path for the next decade giving us the edge in the global race to unleash the UK’s world leading financial services sector.
Britain’s reputation as a financial powerhouse was hard won. The Leeds Reforms are about reclaiming that mantle – and ensuring our businesses, families and savers have the support they need to thrive in a new era of global competition.
Emma Reynolds is economic secretary to the Treasury