Rigby at Paternoster Square: the government's pitch to private capital

Lucy Rigby's return to the Treasury as Economic Secretary was marked on 10 September with a speech to UK Private Capital in Paternoster Square, delivering what she called a "very simple message" that the government wants private capital "investing in Britain" and "growing British businesses" (HM Treasury). The setting was symbolic, the message transactional, and the timing pointed: a new Prime Minister, a new Chancellor, and a reappointed Economic Secretary looking to lock in the sector's confidence before the autumn fiscal cycle.

Key Executive Takeaways

• The UK government has publicly recommitted to private capital as a growth partner, with the Economic Secretary describing the UK as the world's second-largest asset management hub and its most international asset management centre (HM Treasury).
• Ministerial continuity at the Treasury, with Rigby reappointed under a new Prime Minister and Chancellor, gives asset managers a known counterpart but no automatic guarantee of policy stability.
• Senior leaders should treat the speech as an invitation to shape upcoming regulatory and fiscal decisions, not as a settled policy outcome.

Continuity as a signal, not a guarantee

Rigby's reappointment matters more than the speech itself. Ministerial churn has been the single biggest complaint from asset managers over the past two years, and having the same Economic Secretary in place across a change of Prime Minister and Chancellor is unusual. She acknowledged the transition directly, noting that "a lot has happened since March" and that she is "really delighted to be back" (HM Treasury). For boards weighing UK allocation decisions, that continuity reduces execution risk on files already in flight, from the wholesale markets review to pensions consolidation. It does not, however, insulate the sector from a Chancellor who may take a different view of the tax treatment of carried interest or fund structures.

The framing tells you where the pressure will land

The speech leaned hard on the idea that capital allocation decisions determine "the direction of the UK economy for years and years ahead" (HM Treasury). That framing is not neutral. It sets up an implicit expectation that the sector will be measured on domestic deployment, not just aggregate assets under management. Firms that can evidence UK growth capital, infrastructure exposure, and support for scale-ups will find the political conversation easier. Those whose UK footprint is largely a booking centre for global mandates should expect harder questions, particularly as the National Wealth Fund publishes its first full-year accounts to 31 March 2026 (HM Treasury) and becomes a benchmark for what public-private co-investment is supposed to look like.

What senior leaders should do now

The practical read is that the Treasury door is open, and the window to influence design choices on tax, listings, and pensions capital is now, not after the Budget. Rigby's language of partnership ("this government will be your partner") is an explicit invitation to engage (HM Treasury). Chairs and CEOs should be testing whether their public affairs teams have concrete asks ready, and whether their UK deployment story is defensible under scrutiny. Trade bodies will do the collective work, but individual firm-level engagement is what shapes exemptions and transitional provisions.

The speech will be judged on what follows it. If the autumn produces measures that reduce friction on UK listings, unlock defined contribution capital, and stabilise the tax treatment of investment structures, the partnership framing will hold. If not, the goodwill generated in Paternoster Square will not survive the Budget.