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.
UK businesses are facing a “cost of business crisis”, according to the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). Its new cost-stack calculator shows government policy alone has pushed up an average firm's expenses by 70% over the past decade, adding roughly £827,000 a year in costs for a typical mid-sized business. About a quarter of the rise stems from the increase in employer National Insurance contributions, with the higher minimum wage and mandatory pension auto-enrolment also major contributors.
Under Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax, sole traders and landlords with income of more than £50,000 have been required to keep digital records and send quarterly updates to HMRC since 6 April 2026.
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