Next trillion-pound UK company will list in the US
Key Points
- Experts warned the next trillion-pound UK company may float in the US
- UK pension funds and wealth managers invest largely abroad
- London recorded its best IPO year since 2021 in 2025
- IPO proceeds nearly tripled compared with 2024
- Report calls for domestic savings to back UK scale-ups
The UK risks losing its next trillion-pound company to a US stock market listing because domestic pension funds are not backing British businesses, City experts have warned.
“We are a world leader in fintech. We can have the next trillion-pound company. But if we don’t nurture it, it will float in the US,” one contributor said in a report on the future of the City of London published by law firm Addleshaw Goddard in July 2026.
The report, based on interviews with 26 senior leaders across financial services, government and industry, found that some of the best fintech innovation in the world is happening in the UK, but those businesses seek capital elsewhere, representing a loss for the UK economy.
Contributors pointed to where UK savings are actually invested. “UK pension funds and wealth managers invest largely abroad,” one expert warned. “We are not investing in our own businesses and infrastructure. Changing that is one of the most important decisions of the next decade.”
Another contributor said that in order to prevent UK intellectual property heading stateside, pension funds must back domestic future unicorns in the fintech space.
The report noted that recent capital market reform has removed much of the friction from the IPO process and simplified the prospectus regime for secondary fundraisings.
London also recorded a larger number of IPOs in 2025 than in any year since 2021, with proceeds nearly tripling compared with 2024, although the report said perceptions of a declining IPO market still prevail.
Interviewees called for domestic savings to be unlocked and channelled into UK infrastructure, innovation and scale-ups, citing Sweden as an example of a government that has successfully deployed the model.
One contributor said that if the UK takes control of its capital markets in an active way and backs its own unicorns, start-ups and scale-ups, it could be a really prosperous ten years for the City.
The warnings matter directly for UK savers, whose pension contributions largely flow into overseas markets rather than British companies that generate domestic jobs and growth.
The report listed the risk of losing the next generation of British unicorns among the threats facing London, alongside UK scale-ups moving to the US or seeking capital elsewhere.
