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Strengthening the UK’s financial ecosystem to ensure we are the place where great companies start, grow, scale, and stay

The Capital Markets Industry Taskforce is comprised of leading organisations from across the financial markets ecosystem to drive forward the development of the UK’s capital markets.

The UK Capital Markets Industry Taskforce (CMIT) comprises CEOs, Chairs and industry leaders representing private and publicly listed companies, asset owners and managers, and the advisory services that support their access to capital and investments – representing the full end-to-end ecosystem of the public and private capital markets.

The Taskforce aims to maximise the impact of capital market reforms, ensuring the UK is the place where great companies can start, grow, scale and stay and to help investors access assets that provide returns and support the real economy in which they live and work.

Supporting UK capital markets to continue creating jobs, fostering innovation and stimulating growth

Support great companies to start, grow, scale, and stay

Help savers, pensioners and policy holders find the best assets to invest in

Given their critical role, it is essential that capital markets work effectively and drive investment into the real economy

The UK has a superb start-up ecosystem, and yet not all of those great companies reach the scale they need or secure financing in the UK. 

World-leading universities

A unicorn created on average every 27 days

World-leading in emerging sectors like fintech and life sciences

Addressing this challenge is a vision underpinning much of the regulatory reform currently being undertaken in the UK – including through the Kalifa Review, the Hill Review, and the Austin Review.

However, not all the change required to ensure the UK has the growth and productivity gains it seeks will come from regulatory reforms alone. It also needs to come from the full end-to-end ecosystem of the UK capital markets working to implement and embed those changes.

There is great consensus around the need for this change and positive momentum behind it and that is why a group of industry leaders who are users of the capital markets have come together in support of these efforts.

The inaugural Taskforce members bring a deep understanding and expertise from across the UK’s financial ecosystem.

“I am honoured to Chair the UK Capital Markets Industry Taskforce. This is a great opportunity to work with senior practitioners across the financial markets to build on the momentum of the UK market reviews and reforms, and ensure our markets are right for future generations.” 

Julia Hoggett, CEO of the London Stock Exchange plc,
Chair of the Taskforce. 

Taskforce members will convene sub-groups, deliberately drawing from a wide range of industry, academia and civil society, on specific areas where change is needed to ensure an inclusive and thorough debate.

Julia Hoggett

CEO, LSE plc (Chair)

Specialist area: Exchange

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Mark Austin

Partner, Latham & Watkins

Specialist area: Lawyer

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Katharine Braddick

Group Head of Strategic
Policy and Advisor to the
Group CEO, Barclays Plc

Specialist area: Corporate and Investment Banking

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Peter Harrison

CEO, Schroders

Specialist area: Asset Management

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Klaus Hommels

VC and Lakestar Founder

Specialist area: Venture
Capital Investing

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Nicholas Lyons

Chairman, Phoenix Group

Specialist area: Pension Funds/Insurance

On sabbatical whilst performing
his duties as Lord Mayor

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Andy Briggs

Group CEO, Phoenix Group

Specialist area: Insurance

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Matthew Scullion

CEO and Founder, Matillion

Specialist area: Private Companies

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Joe Cassidy

Head of Corporate Strategy for KPMG UK and the Head of Financial Services Strategy for KPMG UK.

Specialist area: Advisory/Audit/Accountancy

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Sir Jonathan Symonds

Chairman, GSK Plc

Specialist area: Listed Companies

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“The UK has made enormous progress in becoming one of the best places in the world to found a high growth company. Recent reforms bring further opportunities to create world-leading companies in high growth sectors but if the UK is to create the next Apple or Alphabet, we need an ecosystem which allows companies to be scaled from the UK. 

I am delighted to join this Taskforce which aims to do just that, ensuring companies can access the capital and support they need at every stage to scale globally whilst calling the UK their home.”

Matthew Scullion, CEO and Founder, Matillion

The Capital Markets Industry Taskforce publishes information about its work and governance, including minutes of its Board meetings and its terms of reference.

The CMIT Conference – Corporate Governance Workshop – Discussion Materials

CMIT Conference – keynote speeches and panel discussions

We publish our latest thinking on the future of the UK’s capital markets. You can find our latest blogs and letters here.

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Andy Briggs

CEO of the Phoenix Group

Specialist area: Finance

Prior to Phoenix, Andy was CEO, UK Insurance at Aviva plc; and prior to that worked as Group Chief Executive of Friends Life, was Managing Director of Scottish Widows, held the role of Chief Executive of the Retirement Income division at Prudential, and was Chair of the ABI.

Andy brings over 30 years of experience in the insurance industry including skills and expertise in M&A, capital markets, regulation, finance and life assurance.

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Sir Jonathan Symonds

Chairman, GSK Plc

Specialist area: Listed Companies

Sir Jonathan (Jon) Symonds is currently Chair of GSK plc. Jon also holds Non-Executive Director positions at Rubius Therapeutics Inc. and Genomics England Limited and is a Member of the European Round Table for Industry and a Senior Advisor to Chatham House. 

Jon has extensive international financial, life sciences and governance experience. Jon served as an Independent Non-Executive Director of HSBC Holdings plc from April 2014, and as Deputy Group Chairman from August 2018, until his retirement from the Board in February 2020. He was previously Chairman of HSBC Bank plc, Chief Financial Officer of Novartis AG, Partner and Managing Director of Goldman Sachs, Chief Financial Officer of AstraZeneca plc, and a Partner at KPMG. His governance experience includes roles as Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committees of Diageo plc and QinetiQ Group plc and Non-Executive Chair of Proteus Digital Health Inc. Jon is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

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Joe Cassidy

Head of Corporate Strategy for KPMG UK and the Head of Financial Services Strategy for KPMG UK

Joe Cassidy is the Head of Corporate Strategy for KPMG UK and the Head of Financial Services Strategy for KPMG UK.

Joe is a prominent figure in the Financial Market Infrastructure and Banking community and has been at the fore of establishing a number of Exchanges & Utilities over the last 25 years.

Prior to joining KPMG, Joe led Global Prime Brokerage & Clearing business for a number of Global Banks including Nomura and Deutsche Bank, and has been an advisor to Global Exchanges and an investor in early stage tech and data companies.

Additionally, Joe’s external roles include Chair of the CityUK UK-Swiss MAG, working on the future FS relationship between the two countries.

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Matthew Scullion

CEO and Founder, Matillion

Specialist area: Private Companies

Matthew is founder and CEO of Matillion. 

Before starting Matillion in 2011, Matthew worked in commercial IT and software development for 15 years at a number of British and European systems integrators. A native of Altrincham, England, near Manchester, Matthew now spends half his time in the United States – primarily in Denver (Matillion’s U.S. headquarters), Seattle, New York, and in the Bay Area, at the beating heart of the enterprise software industry.

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Nicholas Lyons

Chairman, Phoenix Group

Specialist area: Pension Funds/Insurance

Nicholas Lyons was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of Phoenix Group Holdings in 2018 but is currently serving as Lord Mayor of London until November of 2023.

Nicholas joined JP Morgan in 1982, where he worked for 12 years in debt and equity capital markets and mergers and acquisitions. He spent eight years at Lehman Brothers, as a Managing Director in their European financial institutions group, ending his executive career in 2003 as Global Co-Head of Recruitment.

Nicholas has held a number of positions on the Boards of other financial institutions including the Pension Insurance Corporation, where he was the Senior Independent Director from 2016 until July 2018. He also held positions on the Boards of the Temple Bar Investment Trust, Catlin Group Limited, Friends Life Group Limited and Friends Life Holdings plc.

Mr. Lyons is on the Board of the British United Provident Association Limited (BUPA), is a Non-Executive Director of Convex and is also Chairman of Clipstone Industrial REIT plc. He is an Alderman in the City of London Corporation.

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Klaus Hommels

VC and Lakestar Founder

Specialist area: Venture Capital Investing

Klaus is one of Europe’s leading business angels and venture capitalists. He is also a prominent voice for the European Tech Ecosystem with the aim of strengthening Europe’s position in times of digital transformation.

Klaus has repeatedly been recognised as one of Europe’s top Venture Capital investors, having invested in many major players in the tech sector. He was an early investor in companies such as Skype, King, Facebook, Spotify, Airbnb, Revolut, Klarna, Sumup, Zoom, Coinbase and Isar Aerospace. He founded Lakestar in 2012.

As a passionate advocate of the European Tech Ecosystem, Klaus frequently interacts with politicians, regulators and corporates to bring European technology and capital flows on the global agenda.

He is a founding member of think-tank initiatives such as the Internet Economy Foundation and the European Center for Digital Competitiveness in Berlin, part of Henkel’s digital Board and the innovation Boards of Handelsblatt and the Munich Security Conference. Klaus is also member of the Board of Trustees of the Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft, member of the UK Capital.

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Peter Harrison

CEO Schroders

Specialist area: Asset Management

Peter Harrison is Group Chief Executive of Schroders based in London.

Before joining Schroders, Peter was Chairman and CEO of RWC Partners. From 2004 to 2006, he was Global Chief Investment Officer of Deutsche Bank’s various asset management businesses. Peter began his career at Schroders, and later spent time at Newton Investment Management and Flemings/JP Morgan, as a Portfolio Manager. He was appointed to the Board of Schroders plc in May 2014. Prior to his current role he was Global Head of Investment.

Peter is the Chairman of the Investment Association Board and Advisory Council. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the International Business and Diplomatic Exchange, and sits on the Takeover Panel. Peter is part of the CFA Advisory Council and on the CityUK Advisory Board.

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Mark Austin

Partner, Latham & Watkins

Specialist area: Lawyer

Mark is a corporate partner at Latham & Watkins, specialising in capital markets.

His experience includes public and private securities offerings of all types, as well as M&A and general corporate work across a number of sectors. He regularly advises a range of corporate and investment bank clients.

Mark is a member and former chair of the Listing Authority Advisory Panel, a practitioner panel that advises the Financial Conduct Authority on primary markets policy and regulation issues. He is also a member of the FCA’s Markets Practitioner Panel, which provides independent input to the FCA from the point of view of financial market participants and of the Primary Markets Group, which advises the London Stock Exchange on capital markets matters. He is also a member of the Digitisation Taskforce.

He advised Lord Hill on the UK Listing Review in 2021. In October 2021, he was appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer as the independent chair of the UK Secondary Capital Raising Review, which was asked to suggest reforms to the capital raising process for listed companies. He delivered the Review to the Chancellor in July 2022.  He received a CBE in the King’s 2024 New Year Honours List for services to the economy. 

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Julia Hoggett

CEO, LSE plc (Chair)

Specialist area: Exchange

Julia Hoggett is the London Stock Exchange Group CEO of the exchange business.

Julia has a deep understanding of primary and secondary markets from both the regulatory and commercial sector having spent her entire career in capital markets, and she knows the key role they play in providing vital capital to companies and institutions and delivering returns for individual and institutional investors.

Julia joined LSEG from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a market oversight director and previously worked in several divisions at Bank of America Merrill Lynch across four years including head of covered bonds and financial institutions groups flow financing for EMEA. She began her career at JP Morgan as an investment banker in debt capital markets.

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Katharine Braddick

Group Head of Strategic Policy and Advisor to the Group CEO, Barclays Plc

Specialist area: Corporate and Investment Banking Katharine Braddick is Barclays’ Group Head of Strategic Policy and Advisor to the Group CEO.

As the Advisor to the Group CEO on Strategic Policy, Katharine works closely with Barclays’ Executive Committee on the Group’s strategy and its advocacy agenda.

Katharine was most recently the Director General for Financial Services at HM Treasury and had held a number of senior roles at the Bank of England and Financial Services Authority. Her extensive experience includes leading political negotiations on financial services legislation relating to Brexit as well as leading the reform and implementation of new prudential banking standards in the UK in the wake of the financial crisis.