Driving legislative change
A major concern has been to ensure the Financial Services and Markets Bill passes through Parliament with priorities broadly in line with the industry’s. We’ve been engaged with the Bill from its earliest drafting, delivering extensive briefings to politicians, officials and Lords and given oral and written evidence to the Bill Committee. The continued inclusion of the secondary objective on international competitiveness and growth has been a major focus, as has seeing the Bill require the regulators to report on their performance. Through collaborative working with members HM Treasury, the Treasury Select Committee, the Public Bill Committee and MPs across parties, we led the effort to influence government to introduce an amendment on this at Commons Report Stage and then adopt Clause 37 (Reporting Requirements) into the Bill as it reached the House of Lords.
When a new clause proposing an onerous Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) was added to the National Security Bill, members were clear that it would be extremely arduous and discouraging to foreign investment. We were quick to respond, leading the work of a coalition of trade associations on the issue concluding in the removal of the clause from the Bill.
Promoting the UK as a place to do business
We were pleased that the Edinburgh Reforms were consulted on with industry and welcomed them as a package that, if implemented effectively, should help boost the UK’s attractiveness as place for businesses to list, invest, grow and do business. We also welcomed the new remit letters for the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as well as calling for – and supporting the principles – set out in the government’s policy statement on the Future Regulatory framework. We have continued to engage on the details of the reforms with the government and look forward to working closely with them and the regulators to ensure that the wider landscape of financial services regulation is coherent, stable and tailored to Britain’s needs.
Convening members and senior stakeholders
TheCityUK Annual Conference held in London provided a fantastic opportunity to showcase the contribution of our industry to senior policy makers. The event featured keynote addresses from the then Economic Secretary to the Treasury and the Shadow Chancellor.
We organised a series of high-profile events to promote our reports and policy documents, securing contributions from policy makers at these events.
We have delivered an active programme of engagement with a range of policy makers through our roundtable series. Highlights from last year include events with the chairs of the Foreign Affairs, Justice and Levelling Up select committees, Scotland’s Finance Secretary and the Shadow Foreign Secretary. These events have given members the opportunity to directly contribute ideas and policies to these leading politicians.
We have successfully engaged with senior stakeholders across Westminster, particularly through the work of our Leadership Council. The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (EST) has regularly addressed meetings of this group and we have also secured senior figures for Extraordinary Leadership Council meetings including the Chancellor of the Exchequer, First Minister of Scotland and the Shadow Chancellor.
