Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, will this week hold further talks with bank bosses amid industry anxiety that she will raise the tax burden on it at this month’s budget.
Sky News has learnt that Ms Reeves will meet the chief executives of Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group and Santander UK on Wednesday.
It will be the latest in a series of discussions she has held with the sector since being named chancellor in the wake of Labour’s election victory in July.
Coming five days before the International Investment Summit and a fortnight before Ms Reeves’s inaugural budget, the meeting will give bank bosses an opportunity to press their case for further investment in the economy and to challenge policies that they believe could jeopardise the government’s growth agenda.
Government insiders said they now anticipated that an investment minister would be appointed ahead of next Monday’s summit in London, which will be attended by prominent global financiers including the BlackRock chief Larry Fink and Bruce Flatt, CEO of Brookfield.
Three of the banks attending the talks with the chancellor – Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds – have also agreed to pay £175,000 to sponsor the summit.
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The absence of an investment minister at Labour‘s flagship event to promote Britain as a business destination had threatened to embarrass the government more than three months after its resounding election win.
One Downing Street source said they were “90% certain” that the appointment of a businessperson and awarding of a peerage would be announced before the weekend.
A Treasury spokesperson said: “Financial services are at the heart of the national growth mission and the chancellor regularly meets with industry stakeholders.”
None of the banks would comment.