Who speaks for the City of London?
That may sound an odd question given the proliferation of lobby groups and trade organisations such as UK Finance, City UK, not to mention the Corporation of London and London Stock Exchange.
It used to be that under most circumstances the Square Mile could count on the Governor of the Bank of England to speak up.
Andrew Bailey, to give him credit, is never short of words on the dangers of AI, private credit, sovereign debt, and supply-side shocks.
Much of this is highly relevant to the City, which vies with New York to be the world’s greatest financial centre. But it is rarely UK specific.
It is very unusual to hear the governor speak up for the banks, insurers, London trading, asset managers or ordinary investors.
Finance and legal work contribute up to 12% to national income. Finance and related industries employ 2.5m and pay combined taxes of £110.2bn
The loudest and most public voice to be heard against windfall taxes on the banks is not our callow UK bank chieftains (who can even name them?) but the American chairman of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon.
Bailey was an important voice at the start of Covid-19 and the Bank of England did some heavy lifting.
His predecessor Mark Carney made a real effort to broaden understanding of the City and banking to real people in London and beyond.
It was Mervyn King’s finest hour in July 2012 when he summoned the then chairman of Barclays, Marcus Agius, to the Bank and ordered the sacking of chief executive Bob Diamond.
Earlier governors Eddie George and Gordon Richardson were never shy of twitching their eyebrows or actively campaigning in Whitehall and in the media about misgivings.
If there were ever a moment to hear from the UK’s financial panjandrums, it would be in the run-up to the Budget.
It was terrific to hear London Stock Exchange boss Julia Hoggett taking to the airwaves, urging Chancellor John Healey to abolish stamp duty on share trading and encouraging British asset managers to invest in UK plc by offering tax incentives.
Someone needs to counterbalance the never-ending stream of demands from trade unions, Labour’s Left, some Cabinet ministers and the toxic Greens for punishment taxes on banks, wealth and enterprise.
One accepts that high pay in finance upsets the unions. Critics need to know that however important manufacturing, innovation and well-oiled public services are to the well-being of the nation, banking, finance and professional services are enormous contributors to the public purse.
Finance and legal work contribute up to 12 per cent of national income. Finance and related industries employ 2.5m people and pay combined taxes of £110.2billion.
Piling further levies on the sector will only encourage mobile City players to move. It is one of the reasons that Revolut, the British fintech most likely to succeed, is looking at Nasdaq as well as London for a float.
A statistic not heard at the party conferences in the many debates on Europe is how well Britain’s services economy has done since the financial crisis and leaving the EU.
The House of Commons data library shows services exports up 69 per cent since 2008 with financial services alone contributing £105.1billion and a surplus of £84.4billion.
There is no divine right to this and the disadvantageous tax regime for the LSE shows how quickly a competitive edge can vanish.
As we approach the Budget and the possibility of further tax raids, City fathers are quiet as mice as they scuttle around their glass-and-steel empires.
They should take a leaf out of the Dimon book. More bank levies could see JP Morgan cut and run from its £3billion investment in Canary Wharf.
Not for profit
British oil major Shell received nothing but ordure when it reported second-quarter profits of £8billion and surging margins this week.
Few dispute climate change after recent summers.
Contrast Shell-aversion with the wide-eyed glee when South Korean tech giant Samsung unveiled a second quarter profit of £60billion, driven by AI.
Imagine the winter shock for households and data centres if the fossil fuel industry stopped drilling.
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