Investor cash leaving ‘bigger risk to London’s status than bank moves’

INVESTORS pulling money out of the City pose a greater risk to London’s financial dominance than banks exiting the UK because of Brexit, according to a Square Mile official.

Sherry Madera, the City of London Corporation’s special adviser for Asia, said retaining business volumes should be the focus as opposed to banking jobs because transactions underpin the financial centre’s success.

Her comments came as she shed light on how Asian nations view Brexit, with Singapore seeing the divorce as a “net gainer” in its attempts to bolster its position as a global financial centre.

Ms Madera said: “As much as we talk about the qualitative reasons for London being a global financial centre, it does come down to that density of practitioners and the volume of transactions.

“If we take care of those and we take care of our investors who come here to take advantage of that, in some ways the rest takes care of itself.

“If we think about banks leaving the City of London, or leaving the UK, actually what we should be more concerned with is investors leaving. Because the banks are here to service the investors, professional services firms are here to service investors, the entire ecosystem is here to make sure that money is used as efficiently, effectively and profitably.”

Ms Madera, who joined the authority after serving as minister-counsellor and director of the British Embassy in Beijing, said China and India had a more “relaxed” view on Brexit because they have financial operations spread throughout the UK and Europe.

However, she said Chinese banks had used Brexit uncertainty to acquire talent within the City of London.