Enabling growth, driving competitiveness: Annual report and accounts 2024-25

Long-term competitiveness

• Secured key industry policy asks in the government’s Modern Industrial Strategy, Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, and Professional and Business Services sector plan.

• Gained strong momentum on our campaign to address risk aversion to drive economic growth - reflected in the Chancellor’s 2024 and 2025 Mansion House speeches, the FCA’s five-year strategy and media articles.

• Secured industry recommendations in HMT’s Digital Markets Roadmap.

• A leading voice in advocating for the FCA’s enforcement proposals to be abandoned - a key outcome for the industry and UK competitiveness.

• Key policy asks delivered in the government’s Pensions Scheme Bill.

Green and sustainable finance

• Successfully advocated through the IRSG for the government not to proceed with its development of a separate UK Green Taxonomy.

• Proposed how government can unlock greater participation from the private sector in nature markets, support their scaling in the UK and raise the integrity of nature and voluntary carbon markets.

• Promoted the process of implementing International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) Standards through the IRSG to encourage greater international alignment, setting out proposals to support the development of a harmonised framework for their adoption.

UK regions and nations

• Pitched and secured a ‘National Investment Broker’ proposal to better connect capital pools to investable projects across the country.

• Secured the adoption by government of key policy asks to benefit regional growth, including on the Apprenticeship Levy and more resources to speed up planning decisions.

• Engaged industry and mayors on Local Growth Plans, contributing to the development of sector-specific strategies.

• Published highly-regarded and robust research reports, ‘Exporting from across Britain’ and ‘Enabling growth across the UK’, underscoring the significant contribution the industry makes’ cross the regions and nations, with facts and data frequently referenced by senior policymakers and stakeholders.

International

• Ensured services are at the heart of the UK’s new Trade Strategy.

• Delivered the business engagement element of the UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue, advocating for a strong services and digital economy focus in the UK-India FTA.

• Ensured a strong joint UK-US industry voice to influence UK-US trade negotiations and regulatory discussions, refining bilateral messages with US partners.

• Led industry input into the UK-EU reset and UK-EU Financial Services Regulatory Forum and secured a key industry ask on opening up UK citizens’ future access to EU border gates.

• Supported business re-engagement with China, joining the Chancellor’s China delegation in January 2025, and joined the Foreign Secretary’s delegation to Japan to promote UK-Japan trade opportunities.

• Led work to support the reform and redevelopment of Ukraine’s financial centre through the City-Ukraine Hub, with our work recognised in the UK-Ukraine 100-year partnership agreement.

Industry trust and reputation

• Engaged with new MPs, maintained strong relations with the new government and convened members with the most senior political stakeholders, officials and regulators in Westminster, across the UK and internationally through our events, meetings and activities.

• Deepened cross-party political engagement, not least through an extensive and high-profile series of successful events at the major Party Conferences.

• Delivered a series of four successful conferences aligned to our strategic priorities, covering critical industry issues and attracting record numbers of delegates and senior speakers. We also delivered our best-ever attended Annual Dinner, in partnership with A&O Shearman.