UK Economy
While on a tour of Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan, John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, will promote the UKs world leading financial services industry and encourage greater future collaboration in growing markets such as Islamic Finance, Green Finance and Fintech.
John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury said:
Were stepping away from the EU, but we are not stepping away from the world. The UK and Asia have so much more room to grow together, especially in financial services. Brexit is a golden opportunity to strengthen our ties with our partners across the world, ensuring the UK continues to thrive as a truly global country.
Asia is an essential business partner with the UK, especially in financial services. Trade between Japan and the UK was worth 28bn last year, with the UK exporting 13.7bn worth of goods and services. Financial services proved to be one of the most important exports, accounting for 54.8% of all UK services exported to Japan.
Trade between the UK and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - which represents some of the worlds fastest growing economies, including Malaysia and Indonesia is also increasingly important. The ten ASEAN nations collectively rank as the worlds 6th largest economy, with a combined GDP of $2.5 trillion. UK exports to ASEAN were worth 17.1bn last year, 50.8% of which was in financial or other business services.
The Minister will meet with the Indonesian Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the Malaysian Finance Minister, Lim Guan Eng, and the Japanese State Minister for Finance, Kenichi Ueno. Hell also address the Nikkei FinTech Summit, Japans largest fintech conference, abou