‘Moment of jeopardy’: City leaders issue rallying cry to safeguard London’s future as top financial hub
London stands at a “moment of jeopardy”, top business leaders have warned, as they issued a rallying cry to secure the Square Mile’s future as a top global financial hub.
The City bigwigs, including Soc Gen UK chief executive Thierry d’Argent, London Metal Exchange boss Matthew Chamberlain and former City minister Bim Afolami, have called for stronger relations between Westminster and London’s financial district to protect the capital as a top destination for overseas investment in the decade ahead.
The leaders wrote: “The City remains one of the world’s most powerful financial engines, second only to New York in terms of deal flows.
“It has a unique mix of advantages, including deep capital markets, highly credible regulation, an internationally trusted legal system, a strategic time zone, a world class education system and talent pipeline, language pool, and a cultural magnetism that consistently attracts global asset managers, capital and enterprise.
“None of this is preordained. London stands at a moment of jeopardy or opportunity.
Without clear policy direction and renewed competitiveness, it risks falling behind rival hubs that are aggressively courting capital, innovation and talent.”
‘Actively counter distorting narratives’
The remarks form part of a report put together by City law firm Addleshaw Goddard, exploring how the Square Mile can adapt to a changing global and domestic environment over the coming decade.
The report calls for a host of measures to ensure innovation and capital market activity in the City continues to thrive, including redesigning immigration policies to attract and retain entrepreneurs and wealth creators, and actively encouraging pension funds to back UK-based and London-listed businesses.
The report coincides with City unease over who will replace Rachel Reeves as Chancellor after Andy Burnham arrives in Downing Street later this month, with several top candidates flirting with the prospect of levying even steeper tax demands on some of the country’s biggest financial institutions.
“London’s relevance and future prosperity depend on thinking, acting and communicating more effectively across the board,” wrote the report’s contributors, who also include UK Private Capital chief executive Michael Moore and JP Morgan managing director of government and regulatory relations, Lauren Anderson.
“This is a City that in future actively counters distorted narratives and asserts, with evidence, the reality of its strengths: safety, opportunity and global relevance.
“By taking ownership of its story, London will restore confidence among investors, talent and partners worldwide, re‐establishing its standing as one of its most valuable assets.”
Regulators need to ‘get with the programme’
Writing in CityAM, Aster Crawshaw, senior partner at Addleshaw Goddard, said: “London can muddle through, gradually ceding ground to competitor centres that
move faster and court capital more aggressively.
“Or it can use the next decade to reassert itself decisively as the location where AI-driven financial services scale fastest, where digital assets are regulated with confidence and speed, and where British capital finally backs British ambition.”
On Wednesday, shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith hit out at “ivory tower financial regulators”, accusing them of failing to spend enough time dealing with the problems facing London’s capital markets and hampering UK competitiveness.
Griffith argued that while both Labour and Conservative ministers “get the problem and want to fix this” as well as boost economic growth, regulators are instead “spending their time jetting off to regulatory mutual admiration fests” and “need to get with the programme”.