With the UK’s recent Strategic Defence Review highlighting the need for increased commercial investment into defence and a ‘whole of society approach’ to national resilience, TheCityUK has launched a new ‘Defence and Resilience Group’ (DRG) aimed at tackling some of the long-standing policy issues that impact its funding and expansion.
The DRG will bring together financial and related professional services leaders, defence and resilience experts and be co-chaired by Joe Cassidy, Head of Technology, Media & Telecoms at KPMG UK and General Sir Richard Barrons KCB CBE, co-chair at Universal Defence and Security Solutions (UDSS) and co-lead on the Strategic Defence Review 2025.
Against a backdrop of increased geopolitical volatility and drawing on the UK’s position as a world-leading international financial centre, the DRG’s focus will be on solutions to unlock strengthening the UK’s defence capability and national resilience. in start-up and scale-up firms in the defence and dual-use arena and in defence-related infrastructure; and mobilising industry expertise in areas such as cyber security and risk management to bolster public sector skills.
The group will work closely with government, regulators, policymakers, and industry partners to ensure the UK’s financial and related professional services industry plays a key role in supporting defence capability and resilience.
At its first meeting, the DRG welcomed Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive, Financial Conduct Authority, to initiate a conversation building on the themes of his October Mansion House speech, which emphasised the importance of close connection between the finance industry, defence, and security.
Joe Cassidy, Co-Chair of TheCityUK’s Defence and Resilience Group, said, “The past year has thrown up some very clear examples of how interconnected the global economy is. Technology events, geopolitical changes, or company failures don’t happen in isolation, they ripple across financial markets and the real economy. Bolstering the nation’s defence and resilience capabilities requires an urgent national effort. A key challenge is how to bring in greater private capital to seed the outcomes of the Strategic Defence Review. The Defence and Resilience Group will apply innovative, cross-sector thinking to identify solutions to better enable this. In parallel, we also need to consider other issues such as de-risking defence investment and addressing procurement challenges that can deter investment.”
General Sir Richard Barrons KCB CBE, Co-Chair of TheCityUK’s Defence and Resilience Group, added, “The Strategic Defence Review is clear: deterrence and resilience now depend on a whole-of-society effort, and Defence must combine its strengths with those of industry and investors. This Group will focus on turning that into delivery, creating the conditions for private capital to back defence and dual-use innovation, and helping protect the critical infrastructure and services the country relies on in a crisis.”
Miles Celic OBE, Chief Executive Officer, TheCityUK, said, “In a world of increasing geopolitical uncertainty, our industry has an important role to play in supporting national security and resilience. We will work closely with practitioners and partners across our industry and defence sector as well as with policymakers and regulators to enhance innovation, investment, and partnership for the benefit of UK national security.”
The DRG’s first meeting took place in December 2025.
ENDS