IT’S LONDON CALLING

Despite Brexit, UK capital stands at No. 1 financial center

London’s Brexit scare is turning into royal jubilation — at the expense of hard assets and jobs fleeing New York propelled by trade and regulatory fears.

The moves are boosting the fortunes of the UK capital which, despite exiting the European Union, has stunned some analysts by being ranked the world’s No. 1 financial markets center, once again putting New York in its rear-view mirror, according to research and market veterans.

The Big Apple has plunged an unexpected 24 points on the latest Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) on competitiveness, published by Z/Yen and the China Development Institute, which surveys financial professionals worldwide.

“It has surprised a lot of people who had thought New York was the No. 1 [money] center, but practitioners vote London the No. 1 spot,” John Browne, the former British MP, told The Post.

“Brexit is absolutely our savior — before Brexit, we were headed down the tubes to be dominated by Germany,” added Browne, the former vice president of the UK Independence Party and now a senior market strategist at Euro Pacific Capital.

The Square Mile, as London’s financial district is nicknamed, has a promising future, according to Ron Dickerman, president and founder of Madison International Realty, a private equity firm managing more than $3 billion in assets with offices in New York and London.

Dickerman, who was in London on the fateful night it voted to exit the EU, now sees investment opportunities galore there. That includes his firm’s nearly $700 million equity investment in London after the Brexit vote.

“Our view is that we were buying quality,” he said. “The bark has been much bigger than the bite — there really hasn’t been a significant exodus of employees from London, it will always be the center of business in Europe.”

And the latest data prove his point. New York is losing financial services jobs as London’s headcount is expanding. At about 177,000, down 10,000 since 2008, New York City still has not recovered all the jobs it shed during the financial crisis, one study earlier this year showed.

Thousands of jobs have left New York for lower-cost centers with less red tape and regulations, like Texas, Pennsylvania and some assume even London. London’s financial firms have steadily gained back jobs lost during the crisis, and is flooded with investments.

“There is just too much over- head cost in financial services in New York,” said former Nasdaq Vice Chairman David Weild. “We need regulation, but the question is, what’s the right regulation?”

Weild, now chairman and CEO of Weild & Co., blames a lot of heavy-handed regs for the New York job cuts, and shaken confidence on trading desks.

For example, at its peak in 2000, the cash equities trading desk at Goldman Sachs’ New York headquarters had 600 traders on staff, according to a recent paper published by MIT Technology Review. Today, only two traders remain on the desk.

Now, Goldman is in a pickle, reporting a 40 percent drop in its trading revenues last quarter.