UK Finance has submitted its Autumn Budget proposals to HM Treasury, setting out how financial services can support growth across the UK.

The submission calls for a stable and predictable tax environment for banks, warning that further sector-specific taxation would reduce the sector’s ability to lend, invest and support the wider economy.

We make further key recommendations included below. We argue that together, these measures will strengthen the foundations for investment and growth in the UK, creating greater opportunity across the country and supporting more secure household finances.

• Take decisive action at pace now to reduce firm-level capital requirements at least in line with the Financial Policy Committee’s benchmark reduction, which will support the Government’s efforts to boost growth and strengthen the public finances.
• Pass the Financial Services and Markets Bill swiftly, maintaining its coherence and pro-growth purpose, and continue reducing unnecessary regulatory, supervisory and administrative burdens – helping firms to compete and innovate while delivering better value, choice and outcomes for consumers.
• Sustain delivery of the National Payments Vision, including retail payments infrastructure modernisation, the Great British Tokenised Deposits initiative and commercially sustainable Open Banking.
• Deliver the ongoing capital markets modernisation programme to protect the UK’s status as a global financial centre and mobilise capital for domestic investment, and invigorate UK equity markets by removing the 0.5 per cent stamp duty on shares in UK companies.
• Strengthen tech and telecom firms’ responsibilities to prevent fraud through shared responsibility for victim reimbursement linked to where fraud cases originate, or other proportionate mechanisms that require firms to contribute towards fraud prevention activity based on the level of fraud facilitated through their services. Require mandatory seller verification and on-platform payment options for online marketplaces, alongside new fraudulent advertising duties.
• Maximise the impact of the expanded Growth Guarantee Scheme through a joined-up Business Growth Service and a national SME finance awareness and readiness programme.
• Partner with the financial services sector to drive place-based investment and lending, including through a Financial Services Good Growth Council convened by No.10 North, bringing together national and devolved government, public financial institutions and private sector finance to help unlock investable opportunities across the country.  
• Deepen the financial services sector’s role as a delivery partner for the Government’s housing ambitions, by building on existing partnership through the Warm Homes Plan, implementing homebuying and selling reform, and delivering the Government’s long-term housing strategy.
• Strengthen the UK’s financial relationships with key jurisdictions, particularly the EU and the US, and use the Overseas Recognition Regimes and the Overseas Prudential Regulation Regime to reduce friction for UK firms operating globally.