UK chancellor looks to financial services sector to help grow the economy

The Chancellor will host a series of Industry Forums with industry - covering the entire breadth of the financial services sector - to seek views about the best way to deliver long-term in the sector and across the country.

The Strategy, set to be published in the spring, aims to develop policies that foster growth in the financial services sector, as part of the Plan for Change to grow the economy and put more money in people’s pockets.

Recognising its importance, financial services has been identified as one of the eight key growth-driving sectors in the government’s Modern Industrial Strategy.

The Industry Forums, alongside extensive further engagement at official and ministerial levels, will ensure that industry and senior stakeholders are closely involved in the development of the upcoming Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, so that it tackles the key issues that matter most to the industry.

This will ensure that policy is informed by financial services professionals who know first-hand what is needed to deliver growth in each of the significant areas of financial services. 

Over the coming weeks, the Chancellor and the Economic Secretary will chair the first of these Industry Forums bringing in leaders from retail banking, wholesale and international banking, insurance and reinsurance, asset management, fintech, and the mutuals and co-operatives sector.

These sessions will build on the government’s Call for Evidence to inform the Strategy, which closed in December 2024.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves said:

Growth is my number one mission. It’s the only way to put more money in people’s pockets and key to our Plan for Change.

The financial services sector is at the heart of this mission, supporting economic activity and financing investment across the country.

I am committed to working hand-in-hand with the industry to make sure that our plans are informed by those who both provide and utilise financial services, including those who know first-hand what is needed to unlock growth in, and drive prosperity through, our world-leading financial services sector.

The first meetings of the Industry Forums will run throughout January and February, reconvening ahead of the government’s publication of the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy as part of the Industrial Strategy later this year.

The government will continue to work closely with industry following the publication of the Strategy, to ensure that it is implemented effectively.