The New Financial think tank has released its latest rankings which reveal that the UK financial sector leaves its rivals at the starting post. Frankfurt, Paris and Luxemburg do not even come close. The UK is ranked just behind the US but ahead of China and Japan and way ahead of the EU.
The New Financial think tank believes that even if the UK lost up to 25% is its present international trading after Brexit it would still exceed the European financial centres by a considerable margin. The urgency of the Brexit negotiations is stoking the fire of competition between the European rivals as they try their best to break London's dominance and seduce international finance businesses to their respective doors; as a result of which there has been some movement and relocations within Europe. However, there is no clear winner in Europe and those who have jumped ship are dispersed between and handful of EU business centres. London still remains the financial powerhouse it has always been. In fact the whole Brexit debate has highlighted the fact that there is no financial EU rival that can match London.
It would be unwise to exhibit complacency but with a score for London of 40 and the next score of 26 for Luxemburg it would seem that London is in a far better position. For the time being London is secure and with the New Financial think tank putting the UK at number one for foreign exchange trading, derivatives trading and also cross-border banking claims due to the City's massive international banking operations the UK it is fair to say that London is likely to stay in that position for a long time and it will be the EU that will suffer if no financial deal is struck that is an improvement on Brussels' current standard for third countries. The EU should be reminded that the business conducted in the London financial hub underpins the wider European economy as UK-located banks underwrite around half of the debt and equity and manages £1.4 trillion of European assets.
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