By Joe Mayes, Olivia Fletcher and James Woolcock | Updated on Oct 09, 2026 at 10:11 AM
The UK’s City minister said the Labour government understands the importance of a globally competitive financial services sector, as Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey considers whether to hike taxes on banks at his upcoming budget.
“I am very keenly aware of our global competitiveness in this space,” Treasury minister Lucy Rigby said on Bloomberg Radio on Friday, when asked about the prospect of higher bank levies and whether it would damage the City, but declining to comment further. “Tax is a matter for the chancellor. He’s going to set out the position at the budget.”
Rigby’s comments come ahead of Healey’s fiscal set-piece on Oct. 28, in which bank executives are bracing for potential higher taxes. Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s Labour administration needs to fund cost-of-living support for voters, while repairing public finances hit by the fallout of the US-Iran war. Rigby confirmed that she met bank bosses alongside Healey at Downing Street this week, where Healey said he hadn’t yet made a final decision on tax.
“I meet with senior representatives from the sector on a very regular basis,” Rigby said. “They, as you’d expect them to do, make the case to me about how the UK can continue to be the leading jurisdiction that we are for financial services.”
Rigby was speaking after Bank of America Corp. opened an office in Belfast Friday, in a move the UK government hopes will boost the country’s standing as a global banking hub even as it considers the prospect of higher bank taxes.
The US bank said it was set to create as many as 1,000 new jobs in the Northern Irish city in September last year, as part of a broader financial services jobs announcement that coincided with President Donald Trump’s visit to the UK. The opening also came on the day that mobile payments firm Airtel Money listed on the London Stock Exchange, in what may be the bourse’s largest initial public offering in five years.
“These are all really good things,” Rigby said. “They represent that continued confidence in the UK’s leading financial services sector.”
Northern Ireland has become a financial-services hub thanks to its cheaper cost of living compared with other parts of the UK, lower wages, and strong talent pool. Citigroup Inc. employs over 4,000 staff in Belfast, and committed to growing more as part of the Trump visit.
Questioned on whether Burnham backs the UK’s financial services sector given his lack of mention for the City since becoming prime minister, Rigby said that he does.
“Of course it matters to him,” she said. “And look, the chancellor talked about financial services in his conference speech, as you would expect him to do.”