Taxes on banks needs to be retained by Britain. The financial and professional services lobby said that it can make it easier to hire staff from abroad. This can help London unseat New York as the world’s top international financial centre, and that too within five years of time. The strategy paper from TheCityUK reiterated some ideas. But in government reports those ideas were already stated.
According to the paper, by some metrics, the UK is losing ground and London is currently slipping further behind New York each year. Meanwhile other centres are strengthening. The U.S. financial capital overtook London in 2018. In addition to that New York dominated in stock market listings, as per the survey. TheCityUK lobby group stated in the paper that the UK therefore needs to adopt a relentless focus on strengthening its international competitiveness. So that it can win back the prize of being the world’s leading international financial centre.
Britain’s departure from the European Union effectively closed London off from its biggest financial services customer. To make London’s capital market more competitive, the finance ministry is setting out reforms. TheCityUK set a five-year target for London. It made rules such as amending tax, visa etc., Becoming the global hub for financial data, sustainability investing and investment and risk management will also be crucial in helping Britain overtake New York. The total tax rate for a London bank is 46.5%. This is 13% higher than a New York based bank. But insisting the government to cut taxes on finance, due to this COVID may be difficult. TheCityUK CEO Miles Celic said that the single most important issue for financial firms is being able globally hire. He told the media that the conversations they have had with the government is something that is absolutely understood, according to his assumptions.
