The UK Government has published a policy paper outlining its industrial strategy. The strategy centres around eight priority sectors (the IS-8), including financial services. The UK government's ambition is to establish the UK as the world's most innovative full-service financial centre by 2035. A dedicated sector plan is expected to be published alongside the mansion house speech on 15 July.
Key measures to achieve this objective include:
- Ensuring financial services enables growth across the real economy, with retail banks and wholesale markets providing credit and liquidity.
- Mobilising pensions capital into the UK.
- Strengthening UK capital markets, building on recent reforms to the listing regime to efficiently and effectively raise capital in the UK.
- Positioning the UK as the most technologically advanced global financial centre, with fully digitalised markets and a supportive environment for fintech startups to scale and list.
- Supporting high-potential financial subsectors, such as asset management, wholesale services, capital markers, fintech, insurance and reinsurance markets and sustainable finance.
- Unlocking the economic potential of regional financial clusters, including London, Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast.
- Implementing the sector plan through "industry forums" engaging leaders across sectors like banking, insurance and asset management.
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