Comment on Financial Stability Report

Chris Cummings, CEO, TheCityUK, comments on the Financial Policy Committee's (FPC) first Financial Stability Report:

“TheCityUK welcomes today’s Financial Stability Report from the Bank of England and the strong messages within it about the consistent provision of financial services in the UK and beyond. TheCityUK’s figures show that financial services is a highly productive sector, with value added per employee that is more than double the UK average.  The UK’s trade surplus in financial services in 2010 was nearly £36 billion, a powerful contribution to balancing the UK’s negative balance of trade in goods. In how many other sectors can the UK claim to be the world’s number one exporter, far ahead of the United States?  Meanwhile TheCityUK’s most recent research shows that UK banks handle 19% of the total volume of global lending in emerging markets, more than any other country while managing to retain only measured exposure to the troubled economies of Southern Europe.”