Fintechs urge Reeves to incentivise floats to boost flagging London market
Sky News has learnt that Rachel Reeves met executives from companies including Atom Bank, Clearbank, Revolut and Zilch on Wednesday morning to discuss the launch of the Treasury's financial services growth and competitiveness strategy.
Sources briefed on the meeting said the chancellor was pressed to consider allowing investors in newly listed companies to benefit from stamp duty holidays or capital gains tax cuts as a way of encouraging fast-growing businesses to float in the UK.
One said that had "listened" to the suggestions from industry executives, but had not expressed an opinion on them.
The pleas came days after data was published showing the London Stock Exchange had had the worst start to a year by volume of funds raised through initial public offerings in at least three decades.
Ms Reeves plans to restrict the amount that can be saved in cash ISAs in an attempt to draw more capital into public markets - although that decision too is facing stiff opposition from some quarters.
Some of Britain's leading fintechs, such as digital bank Monzo - which was fined more than £20m for anti-money laundering failures this week - are considering floating in London or New York.
Revolut and Zilch are also expected to consider both listing venues seriously when they decide the time is right to go public.
A Treasury spokesperson said: "Fintech is the future of financial services.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Auto Express
12 minutes ago
- Auto Express
Incoming Congestion Charge change is a £75 million 'cash grab'
Proposed changes to the London Congestion Charge are set to raise tens of millions of pounds per year, with electric car drivers set to bear the biggest burden. An Auto Express Freedom of Information request submitted to Transport for London uncovered that the removal of the EV exemption to the Congestion Charge is expected to generate as much as £75 million per year – or even more if the proposed changes to the Cleaner Vehicle Discount are not implemented. Advertisement - Article continues below Such changes mean that while EVs will, from 2 January 2026, be subject to the Congestion Charge, they will be able to receive a 25 per cent discount (50 per cent for vans and other LCVs) if registered through the TfL Auto Pay system. Nevertheless, if such changes to the CVD aren't implemented as planned, EV drivers would be forced to fork out the full amount, increasing the total amount paid by everyone to TfL to a startling £83 million. It doesn't end there, however, as TfL also plans to increase the daily Congestion Charge rate from £15 to £18 from the beginning of 2026; this, covering both electric and ICE cars, is forecast to rake in at least an additional £40 million over five years, rising to as much as £55million. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below Combined, and taking into account overlaps with the aforementioned inclusion of EVs, TfL says it expects Congestion Charge revenue to grow from £240 million in the financial year 2024/25, to £320 million in 2026/27, essentially stuffing an extra £80 million into Sadiq Khan's pockets per year. Talking to Auto Express, a spokesperson for the AA said the association is 'bitterly disappointed that TfL is now picking on EV drivers,' pointing out how the 'incentive to get more people into zero emissions vehicles has now been swallowed up in a general cash grab.' 'London has done next to nothing to provide a park-and-ride facility on the outskirts of the city, but is happy to implement a Congestion Charge that makes people think twice about driving in,' the AA explained. This comes soon after TfL implemented tolls for the Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels — something, figures suggest, has reduced traffic by roughly 5,000 drivers per day. The Department for Transport has also decided to increase the Dart Charge Dartford Crossing toll by £1 in September; Transport Secretary, Lillian Greenwood, said current traffic levels at the crossing 'are well in excess of [its] design capacity, causing delays, congestion and journey disruption to drivers on the M25 and a range of knock-on impacts for local communities'. Did you know you can sell your car through Auto Express ? We'll help you get a great price and find a great deal on a new car, too . Find a car with the experts MG4 and MGS5 EV prices slashed in reply to Government Electric Car Grant MG4 and MGS5 EV prices slashed in reply to Government Electric Car Grant In order to boost sales, MG is announcing its own a £1,500 grant for some of its EVs Roll over diesel: EVs are now doing the big mileage in the UK Roll over diesel: EVs are now doing the big mileage in the UK The average UK electric car now covers more than 10,000 miles per year, a similar amount to the average diesel. Dacia's baby EV due in 12 months with a tiny £15k price tag Dacia's baby EV due in 12 months with a tiny £15k price tag Dacia's new model will be developed in double-quick time, and it'll be built in Europe to avoid China tariffs
Reuters
13 minutes ago
- Reuters
Alphabet results take S&P 500, Nasdaq to record highs; Dow falls
July 24 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit record highs on Thursday as major technology stocks rose after megacap Alphabet's robust earnings, while the Dow was weighed down by losses in IBM, UnitedHealth, and Honeywell. At 11:33 a.m. ET, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab gained 15.92 points, or 0.25%, to 6,374.83 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab gained 53.37 points, or 0.25%, to 21,072.20. Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab rose 1.9% after the Google parent raised its 2025 capital spending forecast by $10 billion to $85 billion, shrugging off trade jitters, and reinforcing investors' confidence in AI investments and returns. Shares of Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab, Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab and Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab were up between 0.9% and 1.7%. Losses in UnitedHealth (UNH.N), opens new tab, IBM (IBM.N), opens new tab and Honeywell weighed on the blue-chip Dow (.DJI), opens new tab, which fell 0.33% - though it remained close to its December 4 record high. UnitedHealth lost 3.7%. The insurer revealed it's cooperating with a Department of Justice probe into its Medicare practices, following reports of both criminal and civil investigations. IBM dropped 8% as its second-quarter results fell flat with investors, hampered by disappointing sales in its core software division. Honeywell, meanwhile, dipped 4.6% despite topping Wall Street's expectations and raising its annual outlook. Electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab tumbled 9%, as CEO Elon Musk warned of "a few rough quarters" due to cuts in EV incentives. The stock has fallen about 25% for the year so far. "Tesla was declining in terms of its core business, which is automobiles, prior to his (Elon Musk) political involvement," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital. "Deliveries were going down, demand was going down and he took his eye off the ball and now it's gone down a lot." On the trade front, an EU spokesperson hinted that a deal was "within reach"—one that could slap a broad 15% tariff on imports across the 27-member bloc, according to diplomats. Meanwhile, fresh signs of progress emerged after President Donald Trump struck an agreement with Japan, slicing tariffs on Japanese goods to 15%. China and South Korea are also scrambling to clinch their own deals and sidestep Trump's hefty duties. Some of Wall Street's heavyweights were starting to feel the sting of Trump's sweeping tariffs. American Airlines (AAL.O), opens new tab fell 9.2% after forecasting a bigger-than-expected third-quarter loss, hurt by sluggish domestic travel demand. The U.S. trade war has created the biggest uncertainty for the airline industry since the COVID-19 pandemic. Markets were also monitoring Trump's surprise visit to the Federal Reserve's headquarters later in the day, which followed months of the president criticizing Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates. With the Fed widely expected to hold rates steady at next week's meeting, traders are now pricing in a 60.4% chance of a September rate cut, according to CME's FedWatch tool. The latest Labor Department report showed weekly jobless claims fell to 217,000—well below estimates—signaling continued resilience in the U.S. job market. U.S. business activity gained momentum in July, but companies hiked prices on goods and services—a move that's fueling economists' predictions of faster inflation in the months ahead, largely driven by rising import tariffs. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.56-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.7-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted 41 new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 65 new highs and 24 new lows.
Daily Mail
13 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
FA insist Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman is not available for any price, as England mastermind gears up for yet another final
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham declared that Lionesses manager Sarina Wiegman is not available to a rival nation at any price, should England retain their European title on Sunday and others call him to try and poach her. Asked at the England hotel on Thursday what his response would be to a rival CEO ringing up and asking 'how many millions have we got to pay for Sarina?', Bullingham replied: 'She's not for sale. Not at any price.' Bullingham's decision to declare before the European Championships that Wiegman would be retained as manager whatever the outcome came close to seeming an error of judgement, when Sweden took England to penalties and the relative minnows from Italy were 30 seconds away from beating them in Tuesday's semi-final. But a third successive final for England under Wiegman, whose FA salary is understood to be around £1.25million a year, has justified the chief executive's confidence. Bullingham fell short on Thursday of suggesting that Wiegman might come under consideration for the job of manager of the England men's team when Thomas Tuchel 's contract expires after next summer's World Cup. Wiegman's own deal runs to the end of the Women's World Cup in Brazil, the following summer. He said: 'My answer is the same now as it was in 2023. The starting point is it is almost disrespectful to assume the men's job is more senior to the women's. That is not the way we view it. I said two years ago Sarina could do any job in football, she is an amazing talent and we are delighted to have her running the women's team through to 2027.' Bullingham indicated that planning to replace Wiegman – if her contract was not extended – would begin in 2026. 'I'm pretty focused on Sunday,' he said, when asked when the recruitment process would start. 'But generally you're looking at ideally a tournament cycle out, if not a year out, that's when you'd know roughly whether the coach wants to carry on. 'But we haven't had any of those discussions yet. We haven't quite started working on the plans for [post] 2027. I know her focus, hopefully after success on Sunday, will shift quite quickly to 2027.' Social media platforms yet to apologise or trigger racial abuse investigation By Ian Herbert and Tara Anson-Walsh FA chief executive Bullingham also revealed on Thursday that social media platforms have made no contact with him to apologise or suggest they are investigating the racial abuse of England player Jess Carter. Bullingham said little has changed since Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka faced despicable abuse after missing penalties at the men's Euros three years ago and indicated that he expects communications regulator Ofcom to use new legislation to take action against platforms. The FA would not reveal which platforms was use posted racial to England defender Carter, citing the confidentiality of their work with police. It is understood that there was more than one. But with the possibility of a black player like 19-year-old star striker Michelle Agyemang taking a spot kick in Sunday's final against Spain, Bullingham expressed his frustration with the lack of progress since Gareth Southgate's black players were abused at the 2021 Euros. He said: 'We haven't seen the progress we'd like to have seen. We did think things would improve [after 2021] and we lobbied very hard together with Kick it Out and other representatives in football to make sure the Online Harms Act came through. I think we would have liked it to have been stronger in some cases. 'I think now it's incumbent on Ofcom to make sure they really do bring those responsible for running social media platforms to account. I haven't seen huge progress in the last couple of years. We would like to see it now.' Bullingham said that the FA would be pursuing 'different tools' to reduce the abuse. One option would be to boycott platforms, like Twitter and Instagram, which allow the abuse to get through. But the Lionesses, who do not command huge salaries like the men, have found important commercial value in those platforms as promotional channels. Manager Sarina Wiegman has said she leaves it to players to decide how much they want to be on social media – and midfielder Keira Walsh has been off it for months. Wiegman said: 'We make principles of how to use social media when and I would never say you're not allowed to use social media because that's not how I work. We want to set standards, but I think coaching is about helping developments but also giving players responsibility – from being dependent to independent and let help players make their own decisions.' Despite claiming to have AI technology to prevent users posting racist messages to players, the platforms are allowing the material to get through. 'There has been a lot of focus on taking down content and I think they could be better at taking down content,' Bullingham said. 'But, more importantly, they could be much better at preventing it as well and then aiding prosecution when it happens. So they need to be better.' The problem is exacerbated by the fact that at least half of the abuse players are facing comes from outside the UK. Tackling overseas abuse entails involving governing bodies like UEFA and FIFA. Bullingham said the FA had been working with them.
