Guest blog: Chinwendu Nwakanma, Wall Street Liaison Officer, British Consulate-General, New York
The Financial Secretary, Mark Hoban, visited New York September 27th and 28th. From the outset this was a great opportunity to build on our strong engagement with the financial services industry and to set out the Coalition’s prosperity and growth agenda. We developed an outstanding visit programme which included key visits to major companies, media opportunities and roundtable events.
The Financial Secretary visited very senior executives at major banks such as JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup to name a few. He explained the Coalition Government’s approach to financial services, financial regulation, the business environment, the competitiveness of the City of London and how we might further foster links between London and New York as key international financial service centers. His messages and engagement were well received by the bank executives who shared their own views on financial regulation and expressed their willingness to expand their operations in the UK under the right conditions.
We facilitated two events aimed at bringing together a broad group of influential figures for discussion on these topics. The Atlantic Partnership hosted a breakfast roundtable at Sir Alan Collins’ residence attended by key figures in policy, business, economics and media. The discussions focused on international financial regulation and the Financial Secretary outlined the steps being taken in the UK and Europe and called for consistency and cooperation internationally. Nick McInnes, Director UKTIUSA hosted a dinner bringing together young entrepreneurs and “movers & shakers” in New York providing an opportunity for the Financial Secretary to engage with a diverse audience of people who represent the next generation of leadership in business and private enterprise.
In addition to this the Financial Secretary had two great media appearances on Fox Business News and Bloomberg.
The Financial Secretary reinforced key messages on the UK being open for business and the competitiveness of the City of London. We also secured a “60 second written interview” with JP Morgan which is a good way for key public figures to get their message across to over 200,000 JP Morgan employees on their internal website.
This visit by the Financial Secretary was a good example of multiple groups coming together to deliver on the prosperity agenda while also strengthening our networks with various organizations. By working together with our colleagues, whether across the room, on a different floor, in Washington DC or London, we were able to make the most out of the Financial Secretary’s visit.