My Lords, it is a pleasure to take part in this second day of Committee on the CPTPP. In doing so, I declare my financial services interests as adviser to Ecospend Ltd and LEMI Ltd.
I will speak to Amendments 13 and 14 in my name. I also give a nod to the other amendments in this group and look forward to their introduction by noble Lords. In short, the purpose of my amendment is rooted in one simple premise: we need to increase our cross-border trade in financial services with other CPTPP nations. We have an extraordinary opportunity to do so. Chapter 11 of the CPTPP sets out the financial services requirements in the treaty and, as in any treaty, we need to play to our strengths. Financial services are obviously one such strength.
If I could have got it within the scope of the Bill, my amendment would have talked about strategies rather than impact assessments, because that is ultimately
what we need here. However, for the purposes of these amendments, we are limited to impact assessments. In many ways, this is a development of many of the discussions we had on the Financial Services and Markets Bill 2023, not least what we achieved in your Lordships’ House in pushing through the international competitiveness secondary objective for the regulator. These amendments fit squarely with that intention and what we can achieve internationally with our financial services firms and ecosystem.
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Turning to the specifics of the amendments, Amendment 13 looks at financial services and the potential for an impact assessment to see how our joining CPTPP can positively affect increased cross-border trade in financial services. The domestic barriers which currently frustrate this trade are set out in Annexe 3 of the treaty. Can my noble friend the Minister say something about the approach the Government intend to take to the removal of those current domestic barriers?
That naturally takes us on to the role of the regulator. We undoubtedly have some of the world’s finest regulators, not least in financial services. However, it is important that we look at how to develop their role, not least by looking outwards at what role they can play in the further development of the international regulatory landscape, a potential greater reduction in friction, and greater harmonising of the approach of the regulatory landscape for financial services internationally across the CPTPP nations.
Similarly, the amendment sets out the important issue of mutual recognition of professional qualifications in financial services. Let us consider the simple example of a loss adjuster having to go from London to, say, a disaster area, and remember the terrible events in Christchurch, on New Zealand’s South Island, and the important role the UK insurance market played in the aftermath. Importantly, to take one example, mutual recognition of professional financial services qualifications for loss adjusters would help to remove friction, resolve difficulties and get the best results for all concerned, particularly in traumatic situations and during the subsequent rebuild.
Amendment 14 looks at inward investment. In many ways inward investment and cross-border financial services trade are two sides of the same coin; again, our financial services regulator can play a significant role here. As a result of joining CPTPP, we can consider something others have mentioned—and I agree with the description: the need for a “welcome mat” for any individuals, institutions and businesses that wish to come and invest in the UK. We need a one-stop shop, so they do not have to find their way through various bits of the Whitehall machinery or put together their own plan to consider all the elements they will need to set up and invest in the UK. Rather, we need a dedicated inward investment team in Whitehall which can deliver on this need. We need our trade envoys—our trade commissioners—to be very much up to speed, in real time, with all the opportunities for inward investment in the United Kingdom.
If we needed any further convincing, other nations are, understandably, well on the way to achieving this. One example is Singapore and the work of the Monetary
Authority of Singapore. What it is doing is impressive, and we can and must do something similar. Does the Minister agree that the concept of a “welcome mat” would be greatly welcomed by the Government and would increase inward investment as a result of our joining the CPTPP?
The CPTPP is a dynamic treaty—a dynamic document. We have various means of influence to bring about a positive impact for our financial services ecosystem, in both cross-border financial services and inward investment. I hope that, as a result of this treaty and these amendments, that will only be increased and that, when the Minister comes to wind up, he will be increasingly supportive of these amendments.
I have a final point: there is an obvious slip of the drafting pen, which I realised and now realise even more. On the timing for any of these impact assessments, I obviously meant to write “two years” rather than “12 months”, but I think that is self-evident in the coding of the drafting. With that, I beg to move.