Ross Clark
US because it didn’t like the regulation that was being forced on the banking sector in the wake of the 2008/09 crisis – regulation, by the way, that was mostly imposed at EU level.
Yet come the referendum and the bank was trying to tell us that it couldn’t live without Britain’s membership of the EU. How quickly times change.
Leave aside what City figures say when they are in lobbying mode – London will remain an excellent place for banks, investment funds, insurance companies to base themselves.
It will still have the benefit of Britain’s stable political system and its trusted legal system – big reasons why London is favoured. It will still sit neatly between the time zones of Asia and North American and it will still be English-speaking.
To scotch another fear, City financial institutions are not going to have problems bringing in skilled overseas employees.
True, bankers from elsewhere in the EU might not automatically have the right to work in Britain after Brexit but there is no way that Britain is going to start turning away highearning financial staff from other EU countries.
The EU does have some leverage to try to steal business from London, most notably in Euro Clearing – trading derivatives
AS WELL as trying to snatch Euro Clearing, the EU has also threatened to prevent UK financial services companies selling directly to EU customers. Yet it has since backed down after our Government made it clear Britain would impose a reciprocal ban.
However envious other EU countries might be of the City, why should they want to deprive their businesses of access to finance raised in London? If the EU wants to create some kind of financial fortress, companies may find it harder to access the capital needed to expand.
Even at this late stage I still have confidence that common sense will prevail and the EU will allow Britain continued access to the single market in financial services. I suspect that in five years time London will still be the world’s leading financial centre.
But if it isn’t, it won’t be Paris or Frankfurt that takes over – it will be Hong Kong, Singapore or Shanghai. That is the direction in which the epicentre of the economy is heading – even if EU countries with their hubris and their stagnant economies cannot see it.
If London wants to stay ahead, it has at least as good a chance of doing so by leaving the EU as by remaining within it. Given that we will be in full control of financial regulation after Brexit, I suspect we will do rather better outside.
‘Jobs in the financial sector have grown’