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Financial services in the UK

The UK’s financial system

The financial system is made up of various types of institutions including companies, associations and regulators. This paper provides a broad overview of the roles these institutions play and the laws which govern them.

In 2022, the UK financial system had assets of around £28 trillion. Of this, £13.6 trillion (around half) was held by banks, £0.8 trillion was held by the Bank of England, and the remainder was held by insurance companies, pension funds and other financial institutions (for example investment funds).   

The UK’s largest banks by total assets are HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest and Standard Chartered.

Economic output and jobs

The financial and insurance services sector contributed £223.6 billion to the UK economy in 2025, 8% of total economic output. It was the fourth largest industry in terms of economic output. The financial services sector was largest in London, where half of the sector’s economic output was generated.

The UK financial services sector was the fourth largest out of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in terms of the proportion of national economic output it generated in 2025. Luxembourg’s financial services sector was the largest in the OECD, contributing 28% of the country’s economic output.

In the final quarter of 2025, there were 1.09 million jobs in the financial and insurance services sector in the UK, 3% of all jobs.

Trade in financial services

The UK exports a lot more financial services than it imports.

In 2025, exports of financial services were worth £105.1 billion, while imports were worth £20.6 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of £84.4 billion.

Tax contribution of financial services

Taxes on the financial services industry raised £35.2 billion in 2024/25, 3.5% of all taxes collected that year according to data from HMRC.

Research from PwC for the City of London Corporation using a broader measure of taxes reported that the financial sector contributed £79.3 billion in taxes in the year to March 2023, 9% of total government receipts in 2022/23.