UK Chancellor Responds to Kalifa Review of UK FinTech

The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has published a written statement on the U.K. Government's response to the Kalifa Review of U.K. FinTech. The Kalifa Review made a series of recommendations to ensure the U.K.'s competitiveness in fintech globally. HM Treasury welcomed the Review at the time. The Chancellor's statement describes the following actions that the U.K. Government has committed to in response:
 

• Collaboration with the fintech community to create a private-sector-led Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology, that will accelerate fintech sector growth;
• Creation of a "scale-up visa" system, fast-tracking visas for employees with a job offer at a specified skill level from a recognized U.K. scale up, including fintechs; further details on the visa will be published by July with the new route implemented by March 2022;
• Creation of an "Export Academy" and "Fintech Champions" scheme by the Department for International Trade;
• Investigation of a U.K. central bank digital currency via a new U.K. CBDC Taskforce chaired by the Bank of England and HM Treasury;
• Establishment of a financial market infrastructure sandbox for firms that are exploring innovation through new technologies;
• The Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy's work on Smart Data to facilitate better data sharing across sectors; and
• Investigations into tax incentives, including a Call for Evidence on the Enterprise Management Incentive scheme, which was published in March 2021 and aims to ensure the EMI scheme provides support for high-growth companies to recruit and retain the best talent, and a review of research and development tax reliefs.

Further details of many of these initiatives were set out in an announcement by HM Treasury at U.K. FinTech Week. The BoE and HMT have also published statements on the CBDC Taskforce.

View the Chancellor's written statement.
 
View details of the Kalifa Review of UK Fintech.
 
View details of HM Treasury's plans laid out at U.K. FinTech Week.
 
View details of the BoE and HMT's CBDC Taskforce.
 
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