The founder of one of Britain’s fasest-growing fintech firms has said Wall Street “mocks” the idea of a London Stock Exchange listing.
Barney Hussey-Yeo, chief executive of Cleo, said the head of investment banking at a global bank had “laughed” at the notion of his company listing in London.
He added they had “assumed” Cleo, which topped £107m in revenue for 2024, was nailed on for a US listing.
In a post on LinkedIn, the fintech chief urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to use the budget to introduce market-boosting policies to “compete” or risk “decline”.
“When Wall Street mocks London’s exchange, Britain has a problem,” he added.
It follows calls from top bosses of UK fintech firms for the Chancellor to provide tax incentives for listings.
Executives from Clearbank, Atom, Revolut and Zilch met with Reeves earlier this year as the Treasury plucked ideas from the industry ahead of the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy.
Reeves’ listing push fumbles
Reeves used the strategy to launch a significant push for fintech listings, including the development of a ‘Listings Taskforce’ to attract “the best and brightest business from around the world” to float in London.
But efforts thus far have failed to make waves. Just this year, buy now, pay later giant Klarna opted to float in New York over the UK, and money transfer firm Wise ditched its primary listing in London in favour of Wall Street.
Hussey-Yeo said the budget needs “action” and called for Reeves to “kill the stamp duty on tech stocks”.
Stamp duty has long been listed among the top headaches for the City market, but Hussey-Yeo argued that making tech exempt would not damage tax receipts with no sector giants on the market.
“Every tech champion listing abroad means Britain loses the upside,” he said.
The fintech chief added the launch of tech ISAs would “stop rewarding cash hoarding”.
He also called for the Treasury to “accelerate” Mansion House reforms announced earlier this year, citing 2030 as “too late”.