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Financial services are a crucial part of the UK economy and its growth. They contribute significantly to the UK’s GDP and employ around 1.1 million people directly. The UK is one of the major global financial hubs, a centre of choice for global fintech investors and firms.
Financial services are also an engine of growth for the wider UK economy, matching capital with investment opportunities and enabling UK businesses to grow and manage risk.
We set out our outcomes and metrics for this theme below.
| Outcome | Metric description | Source | Baseline value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Increased competitiveness of the UK financial services industry | Maintain the UK’s position as one of the top global (i) Financial and (ii) FinTech centres in the world | Z/Yen | 2025Financial centre rank: 2nd Fintech rank: 2nd |
| More productive and innovative financial services industry | More firms use our innovation and tailored authorisation services | FCA | 2024/25
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| We also want to monitor how our work supports UK financial services exports and businesses access to capital: | |||
| Increase in financial services exports | Office for National Statistics (ONS) | 2023Financial services exports: £120,342m** Baseline to be updated when 2024 value is available. |
| Increase in access to capital for businesses | Bank of England (BoE) | 2024Total net raised: £15.7 Bn | |
Why we have chosen these metrics and limitations
We have chosen 2 key outcomes and metrics:
- Competitiveness of UK financial services, through London and UK world rankings: these rankings are determined by a third party and use a variety of factors to measure overall financial services competitiveness.
- Innovation and productivity in UK financial services: we’ve chosen metrics that track the usage of services we offer to facilitate innovation and entry: (i) tailored support and guidance for innovative firms seeking to launch and scale in the UK; and (ii) an expanded pre-application support service (PASS) to support all wholesale, payments, and crypto firms get to market quickly across the UK.
Although affected by wider economic and fiscal conditions, we will also monitor:
- Financial services exports: The value of financial services exports is an indicator of the competitiveness of financial services.
- Access to capital for businesses to grow and invest: Measuring whether businesses are able to access the capital they need to help deliver growth.
We are also working with economists and researchers to further explore the path from financial regulation to growth[2] and would welcome input to aid refinements and updates to these metrics in time.
Metrics are sensitive to both domestic and international factors. For example:
- Perceptions of UK financial services used in external rankings can be influenced by wider macro-economic and geo-political events.
- Our services encourage innovation and productivity. However, the UK’s perceived desirability as a business hub also relies on market perceptions and the wider eco-system including availability of companies that are attractive to investors and pools of capital to invest, taxation, education quality and strength of talent to support innovation in the UK.
- On access to capital for businesses, the Bank of England’s data reflects sources of financing raised by firms in the UK. It does not give the full size of capital markets or the level of liquidity in markets. Since our capital markets are global, this may also not reflect the total UK picture of financial services activity in providing capital.
Historical values
Graph 1
The UK has maintained its position as one of the top 2 financial centres in the world since 2007, and one of the top 5 fintech hubs in the world since 2020 when this index started, with a position in the top 3 since 2023.
UK global financial centre & FinTech ranking
Source Z/Yen
Graph 2a
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Data table
The Innovation Pathway, Digital Sandbox and Regulatory Sandbox have received 356 applications since 2023/24. We saw an initial surge in demand for Digital Sandbox in 2023/24 due to build-up before launch, which stabilised in 2024/25.
Graph 2b
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Since launch in 2023, we have received over 150 applications for our more limited wholesale pre-application support services (PASS), and for 2024/25 financial year we have received 82 applications. From April 2025, this service is expanded to encompass all wholesale, payments, and crypto firms.
Graph 3
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CP= Nominal. not adjusted for inflation
Financial services exports have approximately doubled in nominal terms between 2007 and 2023, with an average yearly growth rate over this period of around 5%.
Graph 4
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UK private non-financial corporation (PNFCs). Excludes public and financial corporations and capital raised through our public markets.
Historic net financing trends peak in 2020, followed by a sharp decline from 2020 to 2023, before increasing from 2023.
Sharp decline in net financing from 2020 as businesses' liquidity positions and cash balances improved following government support. From 2021, demand for financing was also muted as large companies made small repayments of bank loans, while SME’s net borrowing decreased. Overall, net financing raised has been mainly negative since 2021, meaning in aggregate, businesses have started to repay more finance than they raise.