A businesses enviroment that helps firms to grow

Enjoy business-friendly conditions

An open business environment means firms face low barriers to trade and investment

The UK's Offer

  • A stable political environment that enables long-term planning
  • Regulators supporting innovation and international competitiveness
  • An internationally renowned legal system that is clear, fair, and predictable
  • The largest double taxation treaty network among global financial centres
  • A flexible labour market

An easy place to do business

The UK is one of the easiest places to do business in the world. It levies fewer restrictions on the movement of capital and people than many of its competitors. Combined with pro-innovation regulators, one of the largest global tax treaty networks, a renowned legal system and a flexible labour market, firms located in the UK can expect lower barriers to trade and investment, reducing their operational costs. ​

The UK's business environment is set up to help firms to succeed.

The world's most innovative regulators

The Financial Conduct Authority’s Project Innovate enables start-ups and corporate innovation units to test their products in the real market through its ‘regulatory sandbox’. 

Find out more about the regulatory sandbox

The home of the world's business law

The UK has a strong reputation for rule of law, stabilty and impartiality in the working of its legal system, alongside world-leading dispute resolution, arbitration and mediation services. This means that businesses from across the world trust the UK's legal system for a fair hearing. This, coupled with the renowned quality and range of UK advisory services, and the fact that English Common Law is the most popular for cross border contracts, make the UK an attractive, and predictable place to do business.

40%

of global corporates see London as the most preferred seat

for international arbitration

63%

of cases issued in the UK Commercial Court

involved at least one party from outside the UK

41%

of international cases issued in the UK Commercial Court in 2020

involved only international parties

Top 50

All of the top 50 law firms by revenue

have an office in London

The UK is the least restrictive GFC

for movement of capital and people

The UK is the least restrictive GFC

The UK is the second most business-friendly global financial centre

It has one of the least complex business environments in the world

The UK is the second most business-friendly global financial centre

A flexible labour market

According to the OECD, UK labour laws have consistently been less restrictive than the OCED average since 2010

A flexible labour market

One of the world's largest double tax treaty networks

covering more than 150 countries

One of the world's largest double tax treaty networks

Our global offer to business

The 2024 City of London Benchmarking analysis shows that London is the top global financial centre in the world. London’s business ecosystem has benefitted from regulatory efficiency, immigration policies and return to office policies, improving its international competitiveness.

Download the report

Partner story

Hunit: 'In terms of access to capital for the growth of the company and to customers, the UK is hard to beat'

Hunit: 'In terms of access to capital for the growth of the company and to customers, the UK is hard to beat'

Partner story

Smart Pension: 'Plain and simple - the UK is massively conducive to doing business'

Smart Pension: 'Plain and simple - the UK is massively conducive to doing business'

Partner Story

Nakhoda: 'London gives you access to talent in a way that very few other cities do'

Nakhoda: 'London gives you access to talent in a way that very few other cities do'

Scale, range and expertise

The UK's financial and professional services sector has unparalleled range: from banking to insurance; asset management to green finance; professional services to fintech. The knowledge, experience, performance and talent across each of the sector's verticals in the UK is world class, making the UK uniquely positioned to provide financial and professional services to the world.

Discover the UK's sectoral expertise

"The UK’s stability in terms of rule of law and our high standards of regulation are major selling points too. We were having a conversation just last week with a big financial asset manager in Europe. When they realised that we are a regulated pension provider in the UK and that we have met all the high regulatory standards in the UK, then the lights really went on."

Dan McLaughlin, Director of International Smart Pension

"We export a lot of the policies that we develop over here into other jurisdictions so it sets a good example internationally. So as a UK-based company expanding internationally, we take that experience and those policies with us which makes a difference in those countries as well."

Jana Mackintosh, Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy Worldpay

"It is easy to take London’s unique infrastructure for granted, but establishing and growing our business would not have been as smooth in the many other cities that may compete for selection as a European base."

Xinhan Xia, Chief Executive CICC UK