Chancellor to open ‘front door’ for investors in UK with concierge service

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves is to launch a “concierge service” to smooth the way for international financial services companies moving to and expanding in the UK, part of her efforts to boost the City of London.

Reeves will use her Mansion House speech next week to set up a “single front door” for investors, helping them to navigate issues such as visas and regulation, in a recognition that Britain is locked in a fierce battle for business with centres such as Paris, Singapore and New York.

The chancellor will give her speech to City grandees against a backdrop of negative economic growth in May and concerns that she may raise taxes on business and banks in her Autumn Budget to help fill a growing fiscal hole.

Reeves will be looking to get back on the front foot after the debacle of the government’s retreat on welfare reforms, but there are signs that the chancellor is growing cautious in the face of her recent setbacks.

The Financial Times revealed on Friday that Reeves had shelved plans to announce reforms to cash ISAs — intended to boost investment in UK companies — in her Mansion House speech after a backlash from building societies and consumer groups.

The idea of a financial services “concierge service” — also backed by the Bank of England — will emulate similar bespoke services in other financial centres such as Singapore.

A Treasury official said the move would “help put the UK ahead in the global race for financial business as part of wide-ranging strategy to double down on the UK’s global strengths”.

Reeves will use the speech to launch a financial services plan — the sector is one of eight “growth” industries identified in the government’s industrial strategy — as well as announcing other initiatives to boost its competitiveness.

The concierge service, launching this autumn, will provide what the Treasury calls “a single front door to attract international financial services firms to the UK”, including helping companies to obtain visas and advise on regional skills and expertise outside London.

A government official said the service, based in the Office for Investment, would also bring together regulators to help businesses navigate the UK’s red tape.

It will be set up as a public-private partnership between the Prudential Regulation Authority, the Financial Conduct Authority, the City of London Corporation and government, with secondments and partnerships with financial services firms.

The City of London Corporation, which developed the idea, said this week that the UK had seen a decline in its market share of foreign direct investment projects in financial and professional services, with its share falling by 4 per cent between 2017 and 2024.

The chancellor’s speech will also include plans for ditching paper share certificates and investor communications in a long-awaited move to save money by digitising shareholder registers and bringing the UK in line with many other countries. 

The scrapping of physical share certificates is widely seen as the first step in modernising how UK-listed companies communicate with their shareholders. It aims to do away with an estimated two tonnes of paper notifications and reports sent to custodian banks every day, much of which goes straight in the bin.

Sir Douglas Flint, chair of asset manager Aberdeen Group, was appointed by ministers three years ago to review the system as part of efforts to revitalise the UK’s ailing capital markets, which have been hit by a series of companies moving their main listings overseas or going private.

Reeves is expected to announce that the UK will initially switch to a twin-track system that mirrors the current set-up in digital form with sub-registers and a centralised depository. She will outline a longer-term plan to move to a single, centralised digital record of shareholdings.

Flint, who outlined both options in an interim report two years ago, is expected to give the details of the digital switch in a final report on Tuesday, including plans for dealing with the millions of paper share certificates that are in the hands of “lost” owners who are no longer contactable.