Your Excellencies, my Lords, distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am delighted to welcome you all to our annual dinner. It’s wonderful to see everyone here tonight, and my thanks go to Miles and the team for organising such a great event.
Our latest comments, blogs, press releases and statements about the financial and related professional services industry can be found below.
Your Excellencies, my Lords, distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am delighted to welcome you all to our annual dinner. It’s wonderful to see everyone here tonight, and my thanks go to Miles and the team for organising such a great event.
A new industry-backed report [1] from TheCityUK finds that financial regulatory authorisations at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) can be slow, inefficient and unpredictable. When they are, they undermine firms’ confidence in the regulators’ operational efficiency, create additional operating costs, and raise concerns about the long-term impact on UK competitiveness.
Despite increasing competition in global financial markets, the UK-based financial and related professional services industry’s trade surplus increased to £81bn ($110.9bn) in 2021, up from £79.6bn ($106.6bn) in 2020, according to TheCityUK’s annual ‘Key facts about the UK as an international financial centre’ report.
Five associations have come together to form a new alliance – the UK Forum for Digital Currencies (UK FDC) – which will celebrate innovation and collaboration across the payments industry. Members include the City of London Corporation, Digital Pound Foundation, The Payments Association, TheCityUK and UK Finance. The aim of the alliance is to develop better policies, practice and regulation around digital currencies.
Following today’s announcement by the Chancellor of a set of reforms to drive growth and competitiveness in the financial services sector, Miles Celic, Chief Executive Officer, TheCityUK, said: “Boosting the industry's competitiveness and securing the UK's position as a world-leading international financial centre is an investment in the nation’s success and in communities across the country.
New research from TheCityUK underlines the UK’s world-leading status as a centre for international legal services and dispute resolution, with revenues generated by the sector up 12.5% year on year to £41bn in 2021/22. The UK is the largest legal services market in Europe and second only to the US globally – a position bolstered by the international prestige of English common law.
Thank you, Sandy, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to TheCityUK and SFE National Conference, supported by our sponsors PwC and State Street. It is wonderful to see so many of you here in person, at such a historic venue.
The run-in towards the end of the year has been very busy, with much activity delivered across the breadth of our work programme.
A new report from TheCityUK, in partnership with DDCAP, underlines the UK’s status as the leading Western centre for Islamic finance...
An agreement to renew the Services Mobility Agreement (SMA) between the UK and Switzerland for a further three years is a great win for financial and related professional services.
Following today’s Autumn Statement by the Chancellor, Miles Celic, Chief Executive Officer, TheCityUK, said: “We welcome the clarity provided by the Chancellor in his Autumn Statement, particularly around reforms to Solvency II which will help to unlock investment from insurers for green energy and infrastructure projects across the UK.
Better insight into business and economic conditions might allow early interventions to assist distressed firms, or longer-term policy changes where appropriate.