Sarah Breeden: Modernising money and markets
Speech by Ms Sarah Breeden, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability of the Bank of England, at City Week 2026, London, 19 May 2026.
It's great to be here at City Week.
Today I want to set out how the responsible adoption of tokenisation in the UK can enhance financial stability and support sustainable growth – not only in retail payments but also, especially given this audience, in financial markets and the services they provide to the UK and global economies. The Bank, working with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Government and industry, has already done a huge amount to modernise infrastructure and rules in support of that innovation. Our approach compares favourably internationally, and yesterday, with the FCA, we made further commitments. Modernising the money and markets of the world's fifth-largest economy, and the largest net exporter of financial services, takes time. It should not be a botch job. But we are on the right path.
The task now is for authorities, government and industry to build on the UK's strong foundations – to put some 'runs on the board' and show that we are deepening our tokenised finance ecosystem.
No single firm can build that ecosystem alone. So I am thrilled that Chris Woolard has been appointed the Government's Wholesale Digital Markets Champion to help convene industry alongside the authorities. We look forward to working with him in that critical role.
If we work together in earnest over the coming months, we can prioritise the most valuable use cases across the buy side and sell side, work through any obstacles, and enable firms to invest in and scale new offerings and infrastructure. That is how finance will continue to play its vital role in supporting sustainable growth.