London, United Kingdom  - In her 2025 Mansion House speech, the Chancellor set out the next phase of the UK’s financial services strategy—focused on unlocking pension capital, easing regulatory barriers to growth, and strengthening the UK’s global competitiveness as a financial centre.

Ben Koehne, Head of Financial Services at Addleshaw Goddard, said:

“This year’s Mansion House speech mark's a step change in how the UK mobilises capital to support long-term growth. The Chancellor’s focus on removing frictions in the financial system, particularly around regulatory barriers, is a strong signal that government is serious about making the UK a more attractive place for investment.”

“Banks and mutuals will be watching closely to see how these reforms translate into meaningful support for lending, investment and innovation. A more forward-looking approach to capital requirements and balance sheet deployment would be welcomed across the sector.”

“Unlocking pension and insurance capital for UK investment is essential—not just for scale-ups but also for deepening the UK capital markets. A joined-up strategy between the Treasury, regulators and market participants will be key to delivering on this ambition.”

MORTGAGES - Rosanna Bryant, Head of Financial Services Regulation at Addleshaw Goddard, said:

“There is clear alignment between the Chancellor’s Mansion House reforms and the pro-growth agenda. But there is also recognition that overly rigid regulation can unintentionally constrain outcomes for consumers. The mortgage market is a case in point.”

“Following the 2008–09 financial crisis, affordability rules were significantly tightened, making it harder for many first-time buyers to enter the market. Evolving these rules to allow more customer-focused assessments—while maintaining responsible lending—would be a positive step toward expanding home ownership and addressing structural challenges in the housing market.”

PRA - Tess Kelly, Partner in Financial Services Regulation at Addleshaw Goddard, said:

“The Mansion House announcements are a clear signal that the PRA and Bank of England are listening to market feedback and aligning incrementally with the government’s growth agenda. The emphasis is on evolution, not revolution—with targeted refinements to the prudential framework and a ‘something for everyone’ approach to UK banks.”

“It’s particularly encouraging to see an openness to more dynamic regulation, with the Treasury and the regulators working together to review where the balance between oversight and growth may need to shift.”

FOS -  David Pygott Global Investigations Partner at Addleshaw Goddard said:

"Key consultations announced by HM Treasury, the FCA and the Financial Ombudsman Service make clear that the direction of travel is towards incremental but significant reform of the FOS, and particularly to the manner in which the FOS and FCA handle more complex complaints, those with wider implications, and those potentially requiring industry-wide redress."

"Following the November 2024 FOS / FCA Call for Input on 'Modernising the Redress System', there are good reasons to believe that the government and regulators have heard the strength of feeling in some quarters about significant problems with the way in which FOS handles more complex and wider implications matters, and are willing to act by introducing a package of reforms to address some of them."

"There have been widespread concerns in the industry about FOS using its 'fair and reasonable' jurisdiction to act as a quasi-regulator.  These measures will go some way towards addressing that and returning the FOS to the role it was originally intended for: a means of resolving lower value, one-off, financial services complaints quickly and with minimal formality.  The reforms in particular envisage a greater role for the FCA in articulating the meaning of its rules and managing more widespread issues.  There is potentially a greater role for the Courts in more complex cases."

"The consultations suggest that HM Treasury in particular is willing to address long standing concerns from the UK financial services industry about a series of matters, particularly the breadth and unpredictability of the FOS's 'fair and reasonable' jurisdiction, the way that FOS interacts with other institutions especially the FCA, the rate of compensatory interest that the FOS awards on complaints, and time limits for bringing complaints.  The reforms are still proposals subject to consultation, and no doubt the government will be seeking to strike an appropriate balance between firms and consumers, however from an industry perspective they represent significant progress."

"There are good reasons to believe that this package of reforms, if implemented as proposed, will go some way to improving UK economic growth and making the UK a more desirable destination for international investment in financial services."