A decade after the UK’s referendum on EU membership, the UK’s financial services sector has expanded its global reach, building deeper ties with major international partners and reinforcing its role as one of the world’s most international financial centres. The Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future with the United States and the pioneering Berne Financial Services Agreement with Switzerland demonstrate how the UK is forging innovative, high-value relationships with major international markets. 

These partnerships matter. And none of them changes the fact that the UK and the EU remain deeply interconnected and that this relationship in financial services has grown over the last decade:

• In 2024, the UK exported £33.7bn in financial services to the EU, whilst the EU exported €35.7bn in financial services to the UK
• Between 2015 and 2024, exports of financial services from the UK to the EU increased by 50%, whilst exports of financial services from the EU to the UK increased by 59%

These data points underpin the case for a stronger UK-EU relationship in financial services, whereby a more integrated, resilient ecosystem benefits both sides and boosts their global competitiveness. 

Our roadmap 

It is in this context that UK Finance has set out an ambitious, forward‑looking roadmap for the future of UK–EU relations in financial services. Unlocking Growth Through a Stronger UK–EU Financial Services Partnership marks a moment of both reflection and opportunity: reflecting on a decade of change for the sector since the referendum, while outlining a new chapter for deeper UK-EU cooperation in financial services.

The roadmap is deliberately phased, turning ambition into a practical sequence of short, medium and long-term steps that move the relationship beyond today’s under-realised potential towards one that delivers so much more. It recognises that ambition must be built progressively. Early actions therefore focus on areas of clear mutual benefit and limited political complexity, such as making better use of existing cooperation structures to maximise cooperation in technical areas and reducing cliff‑edge risks around critical market infrastructure.

These early wins would build the confidence, evidence base and political momentum needed to progress more ambitious ideas, such as an outcomes‑based UK-EU Financial Services Agreement that cuts unnecessary fragmentation and strengthens Europe’s collective competitiveness.

Why the next EU-UK Leaders’ Summit matters

The next annual EU-UK Leaders’ Summit is the immediate test of that ambition. Placing financial services firmly on the agenda would give the roadmap ideas the political mandate a number of them require, turning deeper cooperation from an aspiration into a structured programme for managing a deeper, more beneficial, UK-EU financial services relationship. 

If the importance of financial services in financing growth across the economy is not acknowledged and financial services is absent from the communique, the relationship will likely continue its current, incremental, information-sharing path. It would not move backwards, but would also fail to acknowledge the cost of inaction: duplicated compliance costs, capital trapped in fragmented systems and uncertainty for firms planning multi-year investments.

Looking to the future, together 

Crucially, the report situates our proposals within a wider geopolitical context. The global environment has become more complex, and the UK and EU share many strategic priorities. 

The report does not advocate a return to pre‑referendum arrangements. Instead, it sets out a balanced but ambitious vision; one that recognises the value of deeper cooperation, alongside respecting both sides regulatory autonomy. A decade after the referendum, the question should no longer be about if, but about how best to work together. The roadmap outlined by UK Finance shows that a more collaborative, structured and forward‑looking partnership is not only achievable, but necessary. The next Leaders' Summit is where the answer can start to take shape.