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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

No city matches London’s appeal as a finance hub

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While recent talks between David Davis, the Brexit Minister and Michel Barnier, his EU counterpart seemed to have been stalling a little, the Prime Minister, Theresa May, has tried to inject new energy into it.


Meanwhile, London has continued to maintain its position as the world’s number one global financial centre, according to a major global study.


Despite major cities in the EU vying to win financial services power, as firms are forced to shift resources into the EU, London’s financial services supremacy will not evaporate following Brexit.


Newspapers have had several stories of major banking institutions making plans to decamp to Frankfurt, Paris, Dublin or elsewhere in an effort to preserve their connections with the world’s biggest trading bloc, where London is “outside”. It might be easy to believe the gloomy prognostications of some that this is the only and inevitable trend, and that London as a world financial centre is somehow doomed, they imply.


However, only last month, Deutsche Bank signed a new 25-year lease for its London headquarters, confirming its commitment to the ‘City’ (financial district). This is just one of a number of institutions that have recently announced their decision to remain in London.


This should come as no surprise given that relocation costs for firms could be £50,000 per person, according to New York-based consulting firm Synechron, while employees are unlikely to be willing to move away from friends and uproot families.


Simply put, there is no single obvious rival to London in the EU.


Although Brexit will no doubt have its challenges, the capital’s GDP is nevertheless predicted to grow at a rate of 2.3 per cent each year between now and 2021, beating Paris at 1.6 per cent and Frankfurt at 1.5 per cent, according to research firm Oxford Economics.


As Duncan Wales, the Chief Executive of Exotix Capital, the world’s leading frontier markets investment bank states: The biggest potential changes to the structure and cost base of the financial industry come from innovation and technology, while investors increasingly seek growth opportunities outside the mainly sluggish G7 economies.


London headquartered firms are at the heart of driving these rapid changes: Out of this year’s FinTech50, the list of 50 European businesses who are transforming financial services chosen by a panel of industry experts at FinTechC ity, 31 firms are headquartered in London.


No other city comes close to this.


Government backing, digital expertise and a large consumer base are among the factors that have helped to cement London’s fintech capital status.


In addition, London has a history of modern finance and retains infrastructure and innovation powers that other centres will have a hard time beating.


It benefits from English as the international language of business, an independent and competitive currency, and the midway time difference to act as a hub between Asia and the US.


It would be naïve to say that the UK’s banks are in perfect shape, or have unassailable advantages over their international competition, but their challenges are not primarily connected to Brexit.


In the case of London and its global relevance, it’s not just the banks that play a part in making London a business hub; the city’s strength lies in its diversity. Its status as a financial powerhouse is based on its range of interlinked services, covering investment, insurance, accounting, legal, advisory, and increasingly financial technology.


The interdependence and connectivity available to companies in London is second to none and the product of decades of drawing in some of the best and brightest from the rest of the world.


This will not disappear overnight and reappear in the same breath on the continent or anywhere else.


Silicon Valley may have digital innovation, New York the traditional financial services heritage, and Washington DC responsibility for setting the policy agenda, but in London one finds all three of these elements sitting side by side, driving the financial services industry forward.


No matter what kind of Brexit the UK ends up with in 2019 or 2021, taking into account Theresa May’s proposal of the two-year transitional period — London will remain a significant platform for financial services and business in Europe and worldwide.


Britain needs its politicians to make a success of the process of leaving the EU, but innovation and commercial reality is driving London on regardless.


Andy jalil


andyjalil@aol.com


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