London aims for New York with a five-year financial plan

by

A woman exercises with a dog near the financial district of the city of London, London, Great Britain, on April 30, 2021. REUTERS / John Sibley

  • An ambitious plan depends on tax cuts, hiring open doors
  • TheCityUK says New York ranked first in 2018
  • Brexit, rising Asian financial centers add pressure

LONDON, Sept. 7 (Reuters) – Britain must cut bank taxes and make it easier to hire foreign staff, according to its financial and professional services lobby, which helped London oust New York as the most important international financial center in the world years.

TheCityUK strategy paper on Tuesday reiterated some ideas already disseminated in government-backed reports and elsewhere in recent months, as the city of London seeks to regain ground lost after Britain’s exit from the EU. Read more

“According to some metrics, the UK is losing ground: London is currently slipping further and further behind New York, while other centers are strengthening,” the newspaper states.

U.S. financial capital topped London in 2018 in a leading annual survey, he said, adding that New York dominated stock quotes.

“The UK must therefore take a relentless approach to strengthening its international competitiveness to regain the reward of being the leading international financial center,” says lobby group TheCityUK, which promotes the financial sector more wide abroad.

Britain’s exit from the European Union effectively shut London down from its main financial services client, which added additional pressure to recover.

The finance ministry has already put in place reforms to make London’s capital market more competitive and TheCityUK set a five-year target for London to “outperform its rivals” by changing tax, visa and other rules.

Becoming the global center of financial data, investing in sustainability and investment and risk management will also be crucial in helping Britain overcome New York, TheCityUK said.

The total tax rate for a London bank is 46.5%, 13% higher than a New York-based bank, he added.

But convincing the government to cut taxes on finances as it corrects the economic hole by COVID can be a challenge, as can having an open door to recruitment, as the Brexit referendum pledged to crack down on high levels of international mobility.

Miles Celic, CEO of TheCityUK, the biggest problem for financial companies is being able to hire globally.

“In the conversations we have had with the government, I think this is absolutely understandable,” he told reporters.

Huw Jones Reports; Edited by Alexander Smith

Our standards: the principles of trust of Thomson Reuters.

.Source