In the last few weeks we have received a few questions from City workers and businesses in the Ward of Cheap about what the City Corporation’s position is in the negotiations between the UK and EU, and what we are doing to represent financial and professional services. Setting our own personal positions on Brexit aside as a team we are pushing for a proactive approach putting people and businesses at the forefront of our efforts.  

The industry is in a position it has never been in before and it will take time to think this through. But in the meantime, there are a few principles that continue to stand so the City can continue to serve its international customers and clients and help tackle societal challenges:

  • The City needs to be open to international skills and talent.
  • The City needs to remain open to international businesses and markets
  • The City needs to be regulated by a globally leading regime that encourages innovation
  • Global markets need global standards
  • Any regulatory changes need to be gradual, well-thought through and follow better regulation principles.

These five principles are what the City Corporation is focussing on when talking with stakeholders in Government, alongside the sector – besides making the overarching point that services generally, and in particular financial and professional services, are vital to the UK economy and need to be at the fore in negotiations.

The proportion of workers in the City of London’s financial services sector born outside the UK jumped to 36% in 2019, up from 32% a year earlier, according to new data from the ONS. There were 522,000 jobs in the City of London in 2018, a 2% increase in employment on the previous year. Financial, professional and business services were the largest employers in the City of London, accounting for 374,000 jobs in 2018.