October 2026
Current Realities, Tokenised Finance, and Pathways to Sustained Leadership
A fact-checked assessment of the United Kingdom’s services economy, its strengths and pressures, and the strategic opportunity of the tokenised financial system.
Services are about four-fifths of UK output. Financial and related professional services produce the largest net export surplus of any national financial centre, and much of the legal, accounting and advisory work the wider economy uses. The same economy is under known pressure: slow productivity growth, low investment, the lasting effects of leaving the European Union, and competition from other centres.
The report sets a sourced baseline for late 2026, separates cyclical constraints from structural ones, and treats tokenised wholesale markets as a practical question for the next few years of legal, regulatory and market-infrastructure decisions. It does not argue that tokenisation, by itself, restores share that has already moved.
Office for National Statistics figures come first. Industry compilations, including TheCityUK and AFME, are used where they name their sources. Contested estimates are given as ranges. The PDF is the document. Nothing in it is rewritten on this page.
Download the PDF: UK as a Global Services Provider (October 2026)
Independent assessment. October 2026. Intended for policymakers, market participants and researchers. The PDF is the document.