TheCityUK
TheCityUK is the industry-led body that represents financial and related professional services based in the United Kingdom. Its members range from large financial and professional services firms to small growing businesses, trade associations and chartered bodies. Industry leaders set up TheCityUK in London in 2010, after a review for HM Treasury in 2008 and a report for the Mayor of London in 2009.
TheCityUK works on the long-term competitiveness of the sector, on trade and investment with other countries and on growth in the regions and nations of the UK. The industry it represents produces more than 11 percent of UK economic output and employs almost 2.5 million people, two thirds of them outside London. TheCityUK publishes research on the sector and brings its members together with politicians and regulators.
Members, board and Leadership Council
Larger firms join TheCityUK at one of four levels named Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum, and a separate package exists for small and growing businesses. Trade associations, chartered bodies and other not-for-profit organizations can join as industry partners. The higher levels include seats on the board and on the Leadership Council, places in senior member groups and technical working groups, and access to bilateral financial services dialogues.
Next to the board and the Leadership Council, TheCityUK has a Business Council, a Next Generation Leadership Council and regional and national chairs across the UK. In a survey of its members, nine in ten members said that TheCityUK advances their interests effectively.
CEO and chair
Miles Celic OBE has been chief executive of TheCityUK since September 2016. Miles Celic led political engagement in the policy team of HSBC from 2007 and then worked for Prudential, where he directed group public affairs and later group strategic communications. Before that he was a broadcaster and worked in the UK Parliament on foreign affairs and defense, and today he sits on the boards of the Financial Services Skills Commission and the World Alliance of International Financial Centres.
Omar Ali CBE chairs the board, and Anne Richards DBE chairs the Leadership Council. David Postings, chief executive of UK Finance, is a non-executive director of TheCityUK. Former board chairs include John McFarlane, Sir Gerry Grimstone and Stuart Popham.
History since 2010
TheCityUK goes back to two reports that both proposed an independent body for financial and related professional services. The first was written for HM Treasury in 2008, co-chaired by the then Chancellor Alistair Darling and the former Citigroup chairman Sir Winfried Bischoff. The second followed in 2009 for the then Mayor of London Boris Johnson and was chaired by Bob Wigley, the former chairman of Merrill Lynch for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Industry leaders then set up TheCityUK in 2010 to represent the industry and to keep London a global financial center. The Leadership Council was chaired in turn by Sir Winfried Bischoff, Stephen Green as Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint, Paul Manduca and Sir Adrian Montague.
Upcoming finance and fintech events in Europe
Key facts about the UK as a financial center
Every year TheCityUK publishes a Key facts report on the UK as an international financial center, with figures on the size and the trade of the industry. The 2025 edition, published on 15 January 2026, finds that the UK had a trade surplus in financial services of $127 billion in 2024, the largest net exports of any country. Together with related professional services, TheCityUK estimates the surplus at £119.1 billion, or $152.5 billion.
The UK accounts for 38 percent of global foreign exchange turnover, according to the report. It also held 14.6 percent of the outstanding international bank lending in the second quarter of 2025, the highest share in the world.
Annual, national and international conferences
The Annual Conference of TheCityUK in London brings leaders of financial and professional services together with politicians and regulators, with debates on fintech, on the regulatory and tax environment and on growth. The National Conference looks at how devolution can unlock growth in the regions and nations of the UK. The International Conference discusses how the UK keeps its position as an international financial center, and the Future Skills Conference with the Financial Services Skills Commission deals with the skills of the workforce.
Address in London
TheCityUK has its office in Fitzwilliam House at 10 St Mary Axe, London EC3A 8BF, in the City of London. The same building in St Mary Axe is also the registered office of the company.
TheCityUK and Finance Loop
Finance Loop members in Frankfurt and other European financial centers follow the questions that TheCityUK works on, from the competitiveness of a financial center to financial services trade between the UK and the EU. Finance Loop discusses these questions at its events and in its Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty track.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, tokenization, stablecoins, and DeFi. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.