London: winning in a changing world

In June 2008 Mayor of London Boris Johnson asked Bob Wigley (Merrill Lynch ‘s Chairman for Europe, the Middle East and Africa) to convene a panel of leading Chief Executives from every sector of the UK’s financial services industry to consider how the City could ensure it maintained its lead in the decade ahead. He asked the panel to make clear recommendations on how London could best sustain and strengthen its reputation as the ‘global capital of finance’. The financial crisis that has struck the world in the intervening six months has heightened the importance of this task.

The panel, the Review of the Competitiveness of London’s Financial Centre, published its report ‘London: winning in a changing world’ in December 2008. The report covers four main topics:

The factors that have historically made London a global financial capital and major contributor to the UK economy
Threats to London’s financial capital leadership
Recommendations on actions that London can take to strengthen its long-term competitiveness
Practical steps that leaders in government and in industry need to take to implement these re9commendations

London: winning in a changing world PDF