Half of UK public think corporate profits are immoral

Half of the UK public believe corporate profits are immoral, according to a study cited by City leaders warning of poor financial education across the country.

The finding was highlighted in a report on the future of the City of London published by law firm Addleshaw Goddard in July 2026, based on interviews with 26 senior leaders across financial services, government and industry.

“The government has a huge challenge to change the cultural narrative around wealth generation and corporate profitability,” one contributor said, citing the study. “It’s a narrative problem. People should feel much more bought in to the idea of the importance of having a productive economy.”

The report identified a lack of financial education and awareness among the general population as one of the City’s core weaknesses, noting the contrast with other jurisdictions, notably the US, where entrepreneurs, job creators and wealth generators are lauded.

Contributors said the attitudes reflect a weak public understanding of how the City and capitalism generally support household wealth across the UK.

One interviewee said politicians and policymakers with no day-to-day contact with the City presume it will always be there, and called for the interdependencies between the UK and the City to be much more clearly understood, citing 13,000 businesses backed by private capital supporting two and a half million jobs.

Media coverage also came under fire. “I think the media is addicted to negativity. As a country we don’t talk ourselves up enough. We have a national trait of talking ourselves down, and I think it has real world economic impact,” one contributor said. “A little more positivity could have a very significant positive economic impact quite quickly.”

The report called for the development of financial literacy programmes for young adults and children to understand how investment works, and for stronger links between Westminster and the City to recast the positives of growth, entrepreneurship and profitability.

The City’s annual economic output is equivalent to the UK Government’s combined 2024/2025 yearly public budgets for Defence, Transport, Energy, and Science, Innovation and Technology, according to the report, which cited HM Treasury public spending statistics.

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