Britain's regional finance centres need to shout about what they do - that was the message from the Financial Conduct Authority's chief executive as he visited Liverpool.
Nikhil Rathi, who became CEO at the FCA in October 2020, was in the North West to speak at the annual conference of the Association of Corporate Treasurers at Liverpool鈥檚 waterfront Arena and Convention Centre.
But before that he hosted a roundtable of finance and business leaders in the city鈥檚 commercial district, where they discussed issues from transport and skills to the need to support small firms.
He said: 鈥淲e talked about how we as regulators can work with those universities, work with local authorities, work with local businesses, work with the banks, to make sure the ecosystem here is supportive for businesses in the financial services sector that want to expand and grow.鈥
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A regulator鈥檚 job is to keep an industry on track, and keep customers safe. But Mr Rathi is keen to stress that the FCA wants to do that without standing in the way of innovation.
He said: 鈥淲e want to make sure we have a regulatory architecture that supports trust in financial services - one that protects consumers, and that ensures we鈥檝e got clean markets and markets that support competition. That鈥檚 good for growth and good for competitiveness.
鈥淎nd through days like today, we want to make sure we鈥檙e accessible, so people understand what our regulatory expectations are.
鈥淚n fact the FCA is seen by many of our peers around the world as one of the world leaders in supporting innovation. We pioneered a regulatory sandbox to allow companies to test their ideas with us, which has been emulated by over 80 regulators around the world. We host a global financial innovation network. I mentioned in the meeting today that we have a , which allows firms to work with some of our data sets.
"We work with some of our partner regulators in what we call , with Ofcom, the Competition and Markets Authority and the Information Commissioners鈥 Office, in an AI and digital hub, so those firms that operate across sectors are able to come to one place to get advice.鈥
The FCA has also expanded its teams in some of the 海角视频鈥檚 other finance hubs. Mr Rathi, who is originally from Cumbria said: 鈥淲e ourselves have built up a very significant base in the North over the last two years, So when I joined the FCA in 2020 around 2.5% of our workforce was outside London and the South East. We now have nearly 10%, so just over 200 in Leeds, and over 250 in Edinburgh, as well. That鈥檚 been fantastic for our organisation in terms of the talent we鈥檝e attracted.鈥
And Mr Rathi is keen to tour the country to hear directly from financial services firms about the challenges they face - and what the FCA can do for them.
He said: 鈥淚鈥檝e done a few visits in the last few months. I was in Cumbria, I was in the West Midlands, and here in Liverpool today.
鈥淭here are huge opportunities for financial services and fintech businesses. 79% of the fintechs here in Liverpool are startups.
鈥淏ut I think like all businesses, there are issues around access to skills and talent. Now remote working can help with some of that, and businesses are able to attract skills and talent from elsewhere in the 海角视频, but this is an area where that strategic link to universities is incredibly important.鈥
Trans-Pennine transport is also a key issue for finance firms. Mr Rathi said: 鈥淵ou hear the question too (in Liverpool) about infrastructure, transport, about being able to draw in talent to come and work here from Manchester or other parts of the broader region. That issue also comes up in Leeds as well.鈥
Now it鈥檚 time for cities like Liverpool and Manchester to shout about their financial services offerings.
Mr Rathi added: 鈥淲e want to make sure we want to help with that by being present and by talking about all the work we do with Liverpool-based financial services businesses.
鈥淭he competition for investment between different parts of the 海角视频 is intense, as it is between the 海角视频 and other destinations around the world. So convening sessions like today where all of the key partners are able to talk about everything that Liverpool has to offer and then take that out to the rest of the world, is important. "
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