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Financial Services: Trade Competitiveness

Original answer

The UK works closely with the World Bank (WB) to strengthen the position of the City of London as a global financial centre. The World Bank Group has 70 staff members in London, which is one of three International Finance Corporation (IFC) Treasury Hubs.

IFC, WB's private sector arm, has an active committed investment portfolio of over $5.2 billion with UK businesses. The UK is the largest investor country for the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), with an exposure of $7.4 billion.

The City is also a centre of innovation. For example, last month, with support from the UK, the IFC sold $500 billion of assets on the London Stock Exchange in a breakthrough transaction which will create a new asset class for UK and international investors.

The answer was corrected by Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour)

on Tuesday, 4 November 2025 on behalf of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Corrected answer

The UK works closely with the World Bank (WB) to strengthen the position of the City of London as a global financial centre. The World Bank Group has 70 staff members in London, which is one of three International Finance Corporation (IFC) Treasury Hubs.

IFC, WB's private sector arm, has an active committed investment portfolio of over $5.2 billion with UK businesses. The UK is the largest investor country for the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), with an exposure of $7.4 billion.

The City is also a centre of innovation. For example, last month, with support from the UK, the IFC sold $500 billionmillion of assets on the London Stock Exchange in a breakthrough transaction which will create a new asset class for UK and international investors.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

HL11051

Session

2024-26

Related items

Correction to PQ HL11051
Monday, 9 February 2026
Written statements
House of Lords

Subjects

City of London Financial services World Bank Trade competitiveness

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk