JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon meets UK Prime Minister and Chancellor to warn against raising the bank surcharge ahead of the October budget
Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JP Morgan, met UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Chancellor John Healey to warn against raising taxes on banks, it is understood. The meeting took place ahead of Chancellor Healey's first budget, scheduled for 28 October 2026, and formed part of Dimon's opening engagement with the new UK government. Dimon is understood to have indicated that investment by JP Morgan, the largest US bank by assets, could be at risk if the government proceeds with a bank tax hike. The intervention comes as Chancellor Healey navigates a fiscal position that requires additional revenue while seeking to avoid repeating the business relations damage caused by the previous government's employer tax increases. The budget context is material. Healey faces an immediate £5bn shortfall in defence spending commitments, rising welfare costs, and pressure to honour Burnham's domestic policy agenda including local devolution and social care, all against a backdrop of elevated global borrowing costs. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has separately called for a reversal of the bank surcharge, estimating this would raise £9bn over four years, a framing that directly conflicts with Dimon's position. Bond market sensitivity is an acute constraint: investors are watching the October budget closely for signs of fiscal discipline, and the memory of Liz Truss's 2022 budget-driven gilt crisis remains a reference point for what an undisciplined fiscal statement can do to UK borrowing costs. Chancellor Healey is described as decisive and experienced in navigating complex economic briefings, with a background that includes a junior Treasury role where he advocated for a light-touch approach to City regulation.
Why this matters
The meeting signals that major international banks are actively lobbying the new Burnham government on tax policy before the first budget, framing investment decisions as contingent on the fiscal outcome. For the City, the key risk is a return to the kind of employer-cost shock that followed the previous government's budget in October 2024. The tension between the TUC's proposal to raise bank taxes and Dimon's warning illustrates the fundamental trade-off Healey must resolve: raising revenue from financial services risks investment signalling effects, while not raising it increases pressure on other tax bases or spending cuts.
On the Ground
Budget-proximate lobbying of this kind generates regulatory and tax advisory work for firms advising financial institutions on UK tax exposure, including potential changes to the bank surcharge and related employer costs. Financial institutions will be commissioning tax structuring reviews and scenario analysis to model post-budget positions. Banking and finance practices will be monitoring facility agreement terms that may include material adverse change provisions sensitive to regulatory cost shifts. A trainee would assist with regulatory notification drafting, compliance gap analysis memos, and tracker updates monitoring announced fiscal and regulatory changes.
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