As Labour refuses to rule out additional taxes on banks Guido can reveal that the flagship “single front door for international financial services firms wishing to set up or expand their operations in the UK” only contains six people. Who also have other duties in DBT…
Reeves personally announced OfI:FS alongside the City of London Corporation’s Chris Hayward, promising a “strategic one-stop shop” for international investors and the launch press release claimed it “could help the UK unlock £10 billion in additional investment by 2030.” It was described as a “public-private partnership” bringing together OfI, Treasury, PRA, FCA, City of London Corporation, and “secondees from leading professional services firms”…
Guido’s FOI Unit can reveal that the Office for Investment’s Financial Services unit, launched in October last year, contains only six individuals. One secondee, no contractors, a team that started at fewer than 5 and grew to 6, with staff who “may undertake additional duties unrelated to Financial Services”…
The unit’s staffing budget actually fell from 2025-26’s £568,000 down to £497,000 for 2026/27. DBT also has no internal or ministerial briefings, submissions, or assessments evaluating the performance or operational effectiveness of OfI:FS produced since its launch. So no KPIs then…
OfI:FS does claim it has “engaged with 116 international financial services firms since its launch in October 2025” and is “currently providing substantive assistance to more than 30 international financial services firms in relation to plans to establish or expand their operations in the UK.” It is not helped by the party of government’s own policies…
All of this sits against growing noise about additional taxes on banks, who narrowly avoided a surcharge hike at the Autumn Budget after Reeves extracted lending commitments as a quid pro quo. Reeves has refused to rule out a bank tax rise for this parliament as she considers a left-wing pitch to help keep Starmer in. If Rayner gets in you may as well shut down the tiny investment unit altogether…
