The British service sector, which includes the financial industry, expanded at its quickest pace for 17 months, despite the turmoil created after the Brexit vote.
According to the purchasing managers’ index, where anything below 50 indicates a downturn in growth, the reading stood at 56.2 last month.
The index, compiled by IHS Markit and CIPS, remained above 50 for the fifth consecutive month, indicating a continued recovery in growth following a fall in July linked to the EU referendum.
December data also signalled a boost to new business growth, evident in new product launches and acquisitions, and was the fastest rate of expansion since July 2015.
These figures paint a positive picture of the service sector, despite reports warning of the demise in British jobs following the UK's vote to leave the European Union.
Chris Williamson, chief business economist at Markit, said the findings defied widely-held expectations of a Brexit-driven slowdown.
The PMI surveys point to the economy growing by 0.5 per cent in the final quarter of last year.
This comes just a day after data from the British Chambers of Commerce indicated a jump in growth across the service and manufacturing sectors in the last three months of 2016, despite many firms being under pressure to raise prices.
Mr Williamson said: “At face value, this improvement suggests that the next move by the Bank of England is more likely to be a rate hike than a cut.
However he pointed out policymakers are “clearly concerned” about the extent to which Brexit-related uncertainty could slow growth this year.
“They will therefore consider the current resilience of the economy alongside the elevated levels of uncertainty highlighted by the historical weakness of business optimism about the year ahead.
“Any change in policy therefore looks unlikely in the short term, and the next move in policy could as much be a rate cut as a hike.”
