Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of workplace financial wellbeing companies on financial inclusion.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises that employers can play an important role in supporting the financial wellbeing of their employees. The Financial Inclusion Strategy seeks to support employers who want to build the financial resilience of their workforce.
Payroll savings schemes are identified in the Strategy as a specific, impactful step employers can take to achieve this goal. The Strategy outlines the Government’s work with the Financial Conduct Authority to provide greater regulatory clarity to employers, so they can offer these schemes with confidence. The Money and Pensions Service is also working with Nest Insight and The Investing and Savings Alliance on the launch of a National Coalition of Employers to encourage uptake among firms.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to work with financial regulators to develop the use of AI-specific stress testing in financial services.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government’s ambition is to make the UK a global leader in AI, leveraging our dual strength in financial services and AI to drive growth, productivity, and consumer benefits. Encouraging safe adoption is an essential part of realising that ambition.
HM Treasury works closely with the UK financial regulators to monitor evolving risks from new technologies, and ensure that the opportunities AI presents can be realised in a safe and responsible way.
Stress testing is a key tool the Bank use to ensure the financial system is sufficiently resilient to a wide range of potential scenarios. The Bank intends to consider the macroeconomic and core financial market consequences of AI adoption under various scenarios. This will enable it to form a view on the range of outcomes that need to be encompassed by future stress tests, in order to capture the potential severe but plausible risks associated with the range of potential AI outcomes.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of UK financial oversight arrangements in the context of the rapid adoption of AI tools by banks and insurers; and what are the implications for consumer protection and financial stability.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government’s ambition is to make the UK a global leader in AI, leveraging our dual strength in financial services and AI to drive growth, productivity, and consumer benefits. Encouraging safe adoption is an essential part of realising that ambition.
HM Treasury works closely with the UK financial regulators to monitor evolving risks from new technologies, and ensure that the opportunities AI presents can be realised in a safe and responsible way.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of recent trends in venture capital investment and scale-up financing in the UK technology sector; and how those trends are informing policy to support fintech and AI innovation.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK has the third largest Venture Capital (VC) market in the world behind the US and China, and the largest in Europe. The latest edition of the British Business Bank (BBB) 2025 Equity Monitor found that the UK attracted £10.8 billion of VC investment in 2024, with £5.5 billion invested in the UK technology sector.
At the Budget in November 2025, we introduced measures to build on these strengths by expanding our enterprise tax reliefs to incentivise investment in scaling firms and support them to attract top talent, by targeting BBB investment towards scale-up companies, and by committing to public procurement reforms to make the UK government a better customer to innovative businesses.
HM Treasury will continue to monitor the implementation of Budget measures and analyse their impact on the UK technology sector, to inform future policy development.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risks to consumers and financial stability of the current regulatory approaches to AI in financial services.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes that the safe adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) by the financial services sector is a major strategic opportunity, with the potential to power growth across the UK. As set out in the Government’s Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, it is our ambition to make the UK ”the world’s most technologically advanced global financial sector”, leveraging our dual strengths in FS and AI to drive growth, productivity, and deliver consumer benefits.
The Government has been clear that we will strike the right balance between managing the risks posed by AI and unlocking its huge potential. The UK financial regulators take an outcomes-based approach to regulating AI within the financial sector, drawing on existing frameworks to ensure that firms uphold strong consumer, stability and market standards, whether they use AI or not. Our current assessment, shared by the regulators, is that this framework is capable of ensuring the effective regulation of the use of AI. However, we will continue working closely with the regulators as the technology evolves to monitor risks and ensure that AI adoption continues in a safe and responsible way.
The Government is carefully considering the Treasury Committee’s report on AI in financial services and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support and retain high-growth UK technology firms seeking to list on the London stock exchange.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has delivered an ambitious programme of reforms to make it easier for all firms, including fintechs, to list and raise capital on UK markets. This includes overhauling the Prospectus Regime and Listing Rules, providing more flexibility to firms and founders raising capital on UK markets.
At her Mansion House speech last year, the Chancellor also announced the formation of a Listings Taskforce, to support businesses to list and grow in the UK, and the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, which sets out a comprehensive package of reforms to maintain the UK’s global leadership in Fintech. Officials and ministers regularly engage with industry leaders on sector developments.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of investments by UK banks in stablecoin settlement companies on the UK's competitiveness as a global fintech hub.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises that cryptoassets, and tokenised payment and settlement instruments present both significant opportunities and risks for the UK and the rest of the world.
That is why the UK has worked closed with international partners through the Financial Stability Board to develop global standards for cryptoassets and stablecoin. It is also why the Government is creating a comprehensive UK regulatory regime for cryptoassets, including to regulate the issuance of stablecoin.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of global trends in stablecoin settlement, and the implications for UK fintech regulation and financial infrastructure.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises that cryptoassets, and tokenised payment and settlement instruments present both significant opportunities and risks for the UK and the rest of the world.
That is why the UK has worked closed with international partners through the Financial Stability Board to develop global standards for cryptoassets and stablecoin. It is also why the Government is creating a comprehensive UK regulatory regime for cryptoassets, including to regulate the issuance of stablecoin.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to facilitate collaboration between UK financial regulators and international regulatory authorities to maintain the City of London's competitiveness in fintech innovation.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to making the UK the best place for fintechs, to start, scale and list. The Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, published in July 2025, sets out our mission to shape a regulatory environment for financial services that is proportionate, predictable and internationally competitive, embracing innovation and leveraging the UK’s leadership in Fintech.
We are delivering this through strengthened partnerships with international financial centres around the world, supported by ongoing regulatory dialogues with many of our international partners such as the EU, US, China, India and the Gulf. We also continue to promote cooperation between UK financial regulators and their counterparts overseas. For instance, the UK has established the UK-US Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future, which is exploring opportunities for deeper collaboration in financial services, with a particular focus on digital assets and capital markets.
In addition, the Office for Investment: Financial Services, launched last October, will guide and support international investors looking to establish or grow a presence in the UK’s financial services sector, with a focus on fintech and the other priority growth areas
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of consolidation trends in the fintech sector; and what steps they will take to support UK-based fintech firms in maintaining global competitiveness.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out in the Government’s Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy (“the Strategy”), the UK aims to be the world’s most technologically advanced global financial centre, and to remain a leading jurisdiction for Fintech firms to start-up, scale and list.
The UK has a long history as a powerhouse of financial services innovation. The Strategy set out a comprehensive package of reforms to maintain the UK’s global leadership in fintech. The sector attracted $3.6 billion of investment in 2025 - second only to the US.