The Treasury has launched a new inquiry to ensure the City of London remains a global leader once the UK is freed from the shackles of the European Union. Mel Stride, chair of the Treasury Committee, said the panel would examine how to “best take advantage of the new trading environment”.
Financial services minister John Glen added the aim was to make the UK’s financial sector the “most open and competitive financial services centre in the world”.
The inquiry will build on a series of reforms already outlined by the Chancellor to make UK listings rules more attractive, amending insurance capital rules, and a sales tax break worth £800million on financial exports to the EU.
The Treasury is working on plans for central banks to use their own digital currencies.
Meanwhile, Britain is also set to be at the front of a new green focus and would be the first country to make large listed and private companies on the London Stock Exchange disclose threats posed to their businesses by climate change.
The policy would cover banks, insurance companies and pension schemes by 2025.
Speaking in the Commons earlier this month, Mr Sunak said Brexit provides a “new chapter for financial services” and pledged to make the UK an “open, attractive international financial centre”.
The inquiry will have a focus on how financial services regulations should be set and scrutinised by Parliament.
Ms Stride said: “The financial services sector is a crucial component of the UK economy.
“There are choices to be made by the UK government that will have long-lasting impacts on the future of the sector.
“As part of our new inquiry, we will examine how the sector can best take advantage of the new trading environment, what regulatory changes should be made, and what role parliament should play in influencing and scrutinising such changes.
“We will make a series of recommendations for how the government, public bodies and the sector itself can ensure that the UK remains a premier financial centre.”
Britain has remained part of the EU’s trading bloc throughout the Brexit transition period which will end on December 31.
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He said: “We are starting a new chapter in the history of financial services and renewing the UK’s position as the world’s pre-eminent financial centre.
“By taking as many equivalence decisions as we can in the absence of clarity from the EU, we’re doing what’s right for the UK and providing firms with certainty and stability.
“Our plans will ensure the UK moves forward as an open, attractive and well-regulated market, and continues to lead the world in pioneering new technologies and shifting finance towards a net zero future.”