The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Lucy Rigby KC, has declared the digitalisation of wholesale financial markets a “national endeavour”, telling UK Finance that the UK has reached a pivotal moment in the transition from electronic to digital market infrastructure.
Speaking in London, at a UK Finance event, Rigby said the pace of change across digitalisation and tokenisation had accelerated during her time away from the City Minister role, and that the sector was now moving “firmly into the mainstream”. She argued that the shift mirrors the structural transformation seen in the 1980s and 1990s when markets moved from paper to electronic trading.
Rigby positioned digital market infrastructure as central to the UK’s future competitiveness, saying industry, government and regulators must work together to ensure the UK can lead the global transition.
“The debate isn’t whether wholesale markets will become tokenised; it’s when,” she said, adding that the UK “can move quickly enough to be a leader in that global transition”.
She highlighted 2026 as a significant year for delivery, pointing to the first report from the Wholesale Digital Markets Champion, Chris Woolard, which sets out an industry‑led roadmap for accelerating digitalisation, priority use cases and the practical issues that must be solved for digital markets to scale. Rigby said she expects the composition of the report’s nine industry action groups to be announced shortly.
The Minister emphasised that the challenge is no longer technological capability but coordination — ensuring firms move together, platforms interact, interoperability is achieved, liquidity is built, and common standards are established. She said confidence is needed for markets to shift from pilots to scale.
Rigby also underscored the role of regulation, noting that the Digital Securities Sandbox provides a nimble way to modify legislation and enable firms to roll out digital‑market solutions. Sixteen firms are currently participating, with the first firm approved for live activity.
Beyond the sandbox, the government will work with industry to map out changes to the UK’s legal framework to support digital markets, using existing legislative tools where appropriate.
The Minister pointed to continued progress on the Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT), due for issuance in Q1 2027, which she said will be critical to establishing the foundations of a broader digital‑market ecosystem. The government has signalled its intention to prepare for further issuances subject to the success of the first transaction.
Rigby also recognised UK banks’ work on the Great British Tokenised Deposit initiative, alongside regulatory reforms supporting stablecoins and tokenised deposits as part of the next generation of digital settlement.
She said the sector is entering a “critical delivery phase” this autumn, with multiple strands — UK Finance, the Digital Markets Champion Taskforce, the sandbox and DIGIT — forming parts of a single story: a sector choosing to innovate and a country choosing to modernise.
“With a sense of national purpose to ensure that the markets of the future are built here in the United Kingdom,” she said.
