Cut the regulations and we’ll help Britain to grow, banks tell Reeves

Britain’s top five banks can support the government in achieving growth and greater prosperity if they are shielded from further regulations, their bosses have said.
Before the government’s international investment summit today the leaders of HSBC, Lloyds, Santander, NatWest and Barclays have called for greater regulatory “stability and predictability” for the banking industry. This, they said, would help to provide “the certainty and resilience for banks to support growth”.
In a rare joint opinion piece for The Times, the banking leaders also put pressure on regulators to deliver on their objectives set out by the previous government.
• If we were Rachel Reeves, this is how we’d grow the economy
Last year the Conservative government handed the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority a new objective to consider competitiveness and growth when making rules, as part of efforts to bolster the UK economy. Regulators have been under pressure in recent months to show they are taking this into account.
The banks said the “industry and regulators should work together to deliver on the promise of the new competitiveness and growth objective, so that we can support the risk-sharing required to hit the government’s ambitious goals”.
“Debates about rules and regulation can feel far removed from the business of economic growth but if we get the balance right, the prize is real,” they state, pointing to the potential benefits of modernised infrastructure, increased job opportunities and a financial services sector that can do more to help the UK economy to thrive.
The unified call is an unusual public move by the bank leaders and follows a meeting that the five bosses had with Rachel Reeves last week.
HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds are listed as official partners of the new government’s investment summit event in the delegates’ information pack, along with Octopus Energy, TSL and M&G.
The programme says there will be sessions on the “government’s vision for the UK and mission to grow the economy, as well as smaller interactive breakout sessions with ministers and peers”.
“These will cover subjects such as: investment opportunities arising from the decarbonising of our electricity grid; health tech and AI in the UK and how our unique datasets present an opportunity to revolutionise care; reflections on investing in a more uncertain world and the UK’s plan to reap a stability dividend.”
The summit and the budget looming at the end of this month, are putting pressure from all sides on the new administration over the future shape of the UK’s economy.
At the weekend 500 entrepreneurs wrote an open letter calling on the government not to raise capital gains tax, arguing that it would discourage start-ups. They included Victor Riparbelli, the boss of Synthesia, a London-based AI unicorn, Giles Andrews, the co-founder of Zopa bank, and Alex Depledge, the founder of Resi, an architectural platform.
The British bank bosses’ message comes at a critical time for the UK economy, with the government aiming by the next election to achieve the fastest sustained economic growth among G7 nations.
The bank leaders argue that a long-term, disciplined investment strategy is essential to secure the country’s future growth and prosperity and call for increased investor confidence, which they said could be achieved through greater regulatory stability, clear long-term priorities and more certainty for investors.
They also highlight the pressing need for the government to secure £40 billion to £50 billion in private capital annually over the next two decades to upgrade essential infrastructure.
The group welcomed recent moves by the government, such as reforms to streamline planning processes, a ten-year infrastructure strategy and the appointment of a dedicated investment minister. They emphasised, however, that more needed to be done to ensure that private investors are encouraged to fund ambitious long-term projects.