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Financial services leaders have banked on London’s growth potential, according to a fresh survey from KPMG, as sentiment sours over the prospects for US financial markets.
Over half of the UK’s finance bosses believed the negativity of London’s health as a financial hub was overplayed.
KPMG’s latest UK Financial Services Sentiment Survey, which quizzes over 155 sector leaders, revealed bosses were optimistic about the future of the City.
Nearly a fifth said they would invest more than 40 per cent of total revenues in London operations, with almost half of leaders set to join them in five years’ time.
Over a third of leaders planned to expand their physical footprint in the City.
Karim Haji, global and UK head of financial services at KPMG, said: “The fact that industry leaders are planning to invest substantially more in the City underscores its significance as an engine of capital allocation and future economic growth.”
Global economic downgrades expected after tariffs
Global economies were sent into a tailspin on the back of President Donald Trump’s erratic tariff agenda.
Kristalina Georgieva, head of the international monetary fund, said the US trade policies had sent uncertainty “off the charts” and would lead to “notable markdowns” in growth estimates.
Haji said it was crucial to “celebrate the City, not talk it down” given the “state of geopolitics is threatening a path towards economic stability.”
The renewed optimism from finance sector leaders follows a lacklustre 2024 for the London Stock Exchange.
The year bore witness to the biggest exodus since the global financial crisis, with 88 companies delisting or transferring their primary listing.
This included Paddy Power owner Flutter ditching London for New York, where it said it could access the “world’s deepest and most liquid capital markets.”
Takeaway firm Just Eat abandoned its listing blaming administrative burdens and costs.
But 2025 has shown signs of a recovery.
Accountancy firm MHA launched its IPO on London’s junior stock market AIM last Tuesday and retailer Shein is hotly anticipated to float in London.
Meanwhile, several major European tech firms have suspended their plans for a US IPO over market turmoil and are warming to the prospect of a London listing.
Jaidev Janardana, chief executive of Zopa Bank, this week said the fintech would think twice about listing in New York.
“I would be surprised if that’s not the case more generally as well,” he told The Times.
Janardana said the UK’s “respect for the rule of law [are] some of the things people will start to appreciate more, given the way the world is going.”
Finance bosses called on the government to seize opportunities to stimulate growth in the City.
Over half of financial leaders said attracting more private capital back into the UK was needed to boost London’s ecosystem.
Improved tax incentives ranked as a top driver for 45 per cent of financial leaders.