Fintechs lobby Rachel Reeves for tax incentives to boost listings
Top British fintech firms have urged Rachel Reeves to provide incentives to list in London or risk losing them to rival markets overseas.
Executives from Clearbank, Atom, Revolut and Zilch met the Chancellor on Wednesday morning ahead of the Treasury’s Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, in which fintech is expected to play a starring role.
The Chancellor was told to ease burdens through allowing investors in newly listed companies to benefit from stamp duty holidays or capital gains tax cuts, according to Sky News.
The calls follow the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) calling for urgent action to fix the exodus of firms from the London Stock Exchange.
The CBI said a combination of transferred listings, private firms snapping up public ones, and investors shunning UK stock had resulted in 213 firms retreating from the City since 2016.
City markets rocked by Wise
Fintech has also been a part of the retreat with money transfer firm Wise ditching its primary listing in the UK last month.
The firm shifted its primary listing to the US explaining it would “provide a potential pathway to inclusion in major US indices, further enhancing liquidity and demand for Wise shares”.
The move dealt a major blow for Rachel Reeves’ hopes for the fintech sector after the Chancellor promised to make the UK “one of the best places in the world for fintechs to start up, scale up and to list”.
A number of firms are still said to be mulling a listing, including Monzo – which was slapped with a £21m fine this week for regulatory failings.
Revolut’s chief Nik Storonsky had previously branded a London listing “not rational” when compared with deeper pools of liquidity and opportunities overseas.
Innovate Finance’s fintech unicorn council attended a summit with the Treasury earlier in the year as the government generated ideas for the upcoming strategy.
Firms were tasked with providing ideas to boost the UK’s competitiveness leaving the Treasury armed with a wish list.
The industry has now pegged July 15 as a pivotal turning point for the fate of the sector.