LONDON: Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has pledged to bolster the UK finance industry’s competitive edge for decades to come – the latest move by the UK government to champion a sector that it largely ignored during Brexit.

       The country’s Finance Minister outlined an “ambitious vision” for reforming financial services as part of his annual speech at Mansion House on the state of the UK economy, according to a statement.

       The aim of the plan is to “sharpen our competitive advantage in financial services, ” Sunak will say, according to the statement.

       “It’s a plan to make this country the world’s most advanced and exciting financial services hub for decades to come, creating prosperity at home and projecting our values abroad.”

       Sunak has pledged to bolster the finance industry in the wake of the UK’s departure from the European Union (EU) by relaxing regulations and ensuring the country is an attractive destination for finance firms.

       Since leaving the bloc, the UK has launched several reviews and consultations aimed at boosting the industry, which was largely excluded from the Brexit deal negotiated by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

       The rhetoric comes as the EU looks to peel more business away from the Square Mile, a key pillar of the UK economy.

       Thousands of finance jobs and more than a trillion pounds of assets have shifted since the UK voted to leave the bloc, although the shift has – so far – been smaller and less disruptive than some initially feared.

       The chancellor has also vowed to make London a global centre of green finance, and on Wednesday, the Treasury unveiled more details of its plans to issue ￡15bil (US$21bil or RM87.3bil) of green gilts as well as a separate issuance of savings bonds for retail investors.

       The savings bonds will be sold later in the year, offering a fixed rate of interest over a three-year period, National Savings and Investments, the state-owned savings bank, said in a separate announcement.

       Investments of ￡100 to ￡100, 000 (RM574 to RM574, 109) per person will be allowed and the interest rate will be announced later in the year.The green financing framework detailed the sort of projects the bonds will fund, including zero-emissions buses, offshore wind programmes, efforts to decarbonise buildings and programmes such as flood defences that help the nation adapt to the effects of climate change.

       Since leaving the EU, the UK has launched several reviews and consultations aimed at making Britain a more attractive destination for finance firms.

       As well as announcing an overhaul of rules covering initial public offerings and fintech firms, the Treasury is preparing to consult businesses on wider reforms to the capital markets in the summer, economic secretary to the Treasury John Glen told Bloomberg earlier this year.

       Brexit has stripped UK financial firms of ready access to European markets, and while the nation in March reached a memorandum of understanding on financial services with the bloc, the EU has said since that it’s in no rush to grant “equivalence” findings that would restore the ability of British firms to trade more freely in the bloc.

       That’s left Sunak seeking to tighten ties with the industry in other nations, and on Wednesday the Treasury announced fresh regulatory cooperation with Singapore. The so-called financial partnership with the Asian nation aims to boost trade, investment and information-sharing and increase collaboration on fintech and green finance. — Bloomberg