Britain's finance sector shows resilience after Brexit, despite lost market share

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Britain's finance after Brexit

Highlights

JPMorgan is building a new Canary Wharf tower for up to 12,000 staff and expanding its Bournemouth campus with a £300–350 million investment, while Citigroup invests £1.1 billion in the UK.
London's financial district workforce has risen to 676,000, over 25% higher than 2019, as deregulation and stable taxation support profitability amid high interest rates.
Britain's share of global foreign capital declined to 7% in 2025 from 8.6% in 2015, while productivity is forecast to be 4% below pre-Brexit trends and small business lending fell to 6.5% of GDP.

Industry performance and investment commitments

As reported by Reuters, major banks and industry data suggest Britain's financial sector has held up better than many executives feared before the 2016 referendum. JPMorgan plans a new tower in Canary Wharf that it says could accommodate up to 12,000 staff, while the bank is also expanding its Bournemouth campus at a cost of 300 million pounds to 350 million pounds; Citigroup has also said it is investing 1.1 billion pounds in its UK operations.

Employment in the City of London is near record levels, with the City of London Corporation saying the district has 676,000 workers, more than 25% above 2019. Bank profitability has also been supported by higher interest rates after the post-COVID inflation surge, while the Labour government since 2024 has accelerated deregulation and avoided imposing fresh taxes on the sector.

Britain has also benefited in areas such as insurance and financial technology. Changes to Solvency II rules have helped insurers by reducing administrative costs and easing capital constraints, and the London Market Group says gross written premiums have doubled over the past decade to $187 billion. In fintech, London has become a major hub, with Revolut valued at $75 billion in a November share sale.

Competitive pressures and wider economic costs

Despite that resilience, the sector has lost ground in several international finance activities since Brexit. British firms moved about 40,000 jobs to EU financial centres after losing passporting rights, according to City of London Corporation estimates, and research from New Financial shows Britain has lost market share in 10 of 12 categories of international finance since 2015.

Britain remains second only to the U.S. as a destination for foreign capital, with more than 12 trillion pounds in foreign direct investment, portfolio investment and cross-border deposits at the end of 2025, according to IMF data cited by Barclays. But its share of global foreign capital has fallen to 7% in 2025 from 8.6% in 2015, while the U.S. share has risen to 25% from around 20%, largely because of demand for U.S. stocks.

The broader UK economy continues to face longer-term Brexit-related strains. Government budget forecasters estimate long-run productivity will be 4% lower than if Britain had remained in the EU, while higher bond yields, political instability and tighter credit conditions have weighed on business activity. Bank of England data shows lending to small businesses as a share of GDP has fallen to 6.5% in the year to date from just above 8% in 2016, underscoring concerns that stronger financial services performance has not fully offset wider economic frictions.

In our earlier article on the 10-year anniversary of the Brexit referendum, we examined how the 2016 vote and the UK’s subsequent withdrawal from the EU reshaped the country’s economic and political trajectory. We noted that renewed debate has focused on whether the Leave campaign had a workable post-referendum plan, and how those planning gaps continue to influence investor perceptions of UK uncertainty.

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