The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, hosted US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at Downing Street recently for a joint industry roundtable. The meeting reaffirmed the close ties between London and New York as leading global financial centres and announced the creation of a new Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future.
Purpose of the task force
The task force will provide recommendations to both governments on how the UK and US can work more closely together in areas such as:
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Digital assets - exploring both short-term opportunities while regulation is still developing and long-term possibilities for innovation in wholesale digital markets.
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Capital markets - identifying ways to make it easier for UK and US firms to raise funds across borders, reducing unnecessary burdens and strengthening competitiveness.
The task force will feed its recommendations through the existing UK-US Financial Regulatory Working Group and report within 180 days.
HMRC have opened a consultation, ‘Modernising the taxation of distributions and repayments of capital from companies’. They are seeking views on proposals to modernise the tax framework dealing with distributions made by companies to shareholders who are individuals or trusts.
Investors representing over $3 trillion of assets under management from across North America, the Gulf, Asia and Australia will participate in InvestConnect, a new UK investment fund. Aimed at connecting the UK’s nations and regions to trillions of pounds of global capital, the new platform was developed in consultation with professional investors, government partners and the UK's nations and regions.