Brexit to stall London as finance hub

london — Development of London’s financial centre will “stall” owing to Brexit, but is unlikely to “totally reverse”, Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein said in an interview broadcast Friday.

“It will stall, it might backtrack a bit, it just depends on a lot of things about which we are uncertain, and I know there isn’t certainty at the moment,” the head of the US investment banking giant told the BBC.

“I don’t think it will totally reverse,” said Blankfein.

It [London] will stall, it might backtrack a bit, it just depends on a lot of things about which we are uncertain Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs

The British government will soon start negotiations to set the terms of its departure from the European Union.

UK-based banks and other financial firms face losing “passporting” rights to sell services to clients operating in the European Union once Britain officially quits the EU in March 2019 unless a deal can be reached.

Blankfein said the bank was “trying to avoid” a large-scale move out of London.

“Obviously, a lot of people elect to have their European business concentrated in a single place, and the easiest place, certainly, for the biggest economy in the world [the US] to concentrate would be the UK — the culture, the language, the special relationship — and we are an example of that,” he said. — AFP