Growth beyond AI – how the UK’s Industrial Strategy thinking is taking shape (or not) around FinTech 

FinTech is a sector in which the UK can already claim leadership in Europe, so what should a national strategy to build on this look like on a global stage? That was the focus of a Westminster Business Forum policy conference this month.According to Chair of the morning session, Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell – traditionally, peers from across the party aisles host these events – FinTech will be a critical element in “getting the economy moving again”. To which the response must be, if the UK’s dominance in this and other spaces is established, why isn’t the economy moving already?A good question for Patrick Keenan, Head of FinTech Policy for the Treasury – a role that puts him at the intersection of several policy areas, including regulation, Open Banking, Open Finance, AI investment, fiscal policy, and international partnerships. He said:Sometimes you get policy running in cycles, where the government spends time gathering information, doing reviews, consulting, and devising a long-term strategy. Then in subsequent years, the focus shifts to delivery, so you have these alternating periods of review and activity. But I think the exciting thing in 2025 is we’re doing both at once, and I think the Chancellor’s growth mission is really challenging us to do that!
But isn’t UK Chancellor of the Exchequer. Rachel Reeves’ growth policy, in partnership with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, just ‘more of the same’ since former Conservative leader Boris Johnson scrapped Britain’s Industrial Strategy and replaced it with an ill-defined ‘Plan for Growth’?November 2024 figures reveal that, driven by Britain’s dominant Services sector, the economy grew by just 0.1% – less than forecast, after two stagnant months. Can yet another growth strategy really succeed by simply mainlining technology into the veins, to borrow Starmer’s phrase? After all, that is the language of addiction, not strategy. Why not address the obvious causes of decline first? (Shh, don’t mention Brexit!)That aside, Keenan let slip some promising news:We are looking to set a long-term, 10-year Industrial Strategy. And a specific growth and competitiveness strategy for Financial Services, which will link them into the broader Industrial Strategy, which will have innovation and FinTech right at the heart. So, we’re looking to do that long-term, 10-year planning. But we’re also committed to delivering this year some key policy foundations for the FinTech sector that will really set us up for success.
In November at London’s Mansion House, the Government launched a call for evidence on its proposed Financial Services growth and competitiveness strategy. That closed just before Christmas and is merely the first step in “co-designing this strategy with stakeholders”, he said, adding:We’re looking for [the industry’s] views on what the Government should focus on as we plan for the next 10 years. Once it’s developed, I think it will serve as a central guiding f