UK financial firms' sentiment improves for first time in four years - Survey

According to the latest quarterly survey of 94 banks, insurers and investment management firms conducted by business trade body CBI and consultants PwC, the business moral amongst the UK’s financial firms jumped for the first time in four years.

The survey also showed that the business volumes are also predicted to grow in the coming weeks.

Andrew Kail, Head of financial services at PwC said: “The stirrings of optimism represent a significant turnaround given the flat and falling optimism that has beset the past four years.”

“An uptick in hiring in hiring, investment in systems, and better profit expectations for the first three months of the year are driving the positivity in the sector, following the general election,” Kail added.

Meanwhile, Rain Newton-Smith, Chief Economist at the CBI, said, “the government must do all it can to support financial services, one of the UK’s most globally competitive sectors, to ensure that the expectations of an upturn can come to pass.”

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