Zahawi will visit the New York Stock Exchange and meet with senior global bank representatives with “the aim of setting the highest possible standard for global financial services co-operation between the two nations.”
He will also talk up potential reforms in the UK’s Financial Services and Markets Bill – reforms that some in the City say do not go far enough – as part of his US trip.
The Chair of the London Stock Exchange has warned that the capital is “in a foot race with our competitors and we cannot afford to be ignorant of that or complacent about what we need to do if we want to stay relevant,” according to a submission to the Financial Conduct Authority seen by the Telegraph.
Michael Findlay was writing to the watchdog as part of a primary markets review which aims to set the framework for the UK’s capital-raising markets.
Findlay said that the UK has a “once in a generation opportunity to implement radical reforms” as a result of the country’s departure from the EU, but that failing to do so would leave London with a “material risk of diminishing to that of a regional exchange.”
There are already concerns that the UK has ceased to be a positive market for capital listings, with a number of recent floats failing to deliver. UK equities are also relatively underpriced compared to global competitors, leading to a recent feeding frenzy of foreign firms looking to take UK-listed outfits private.
Nadhim Zahawi will also visit Washington DC where he will meet with officials from the Fed and the US Treasury.
