Westminster needs to do better by the City
One London-based banker says that on his weekly journey to and from Frankfurt, the plane going to Germany is often twice as full as the one coming back.
Such anecdotes, exaggerated though they may feel, nonetheless underline the creeping sense of anxiety over London’s global status.
Read more: London holds on to number two spot in financial centres index
The remedy, of course, is simple: certainty.
A report released by Z/Yen this morning, featured exclusively in today’s City A.M., brings to light the complex shifts which are now taking place on the world financial stage; the falling scores among the top five cities, the dominance of China in Fintech, the mixed performance of Western Europe and the astonishing rise of developing cities like Mumbai.
The simultaneous fall and rise in ratings of London and Paris respectively will undoubtedly raise eyebrows.
In the report’s foreword, French business chief Augustin de Romanet makes the bold claim that Paris is “the only global city in the EU, on a par with London” – a claim slightly nullified by the fact that the City of Lights still sits 15 spots below the City.
William Wright, managing director of think tank New Financial, points out that the value of banking and financial activity in the UK across 28 sectors is the same as France, Germany and the Netherlands combined.
Read more: Profits slip at City of London investment group
The report also comes in the same week London was reported to have expanded its global market share of FX and derivatives trading.
There’s no room for complacency. Michael Mainelli, executive chairman of Z/Yen, said that while London was the obvious place to set up business among chief executives three years ago, today it is no longer that simple.
The reputation for stability that has made London a safe haven for so many investors is slowly being eroded by political stalemate a few stops down the District line.
More and more executives are privately saying that the inertia from the last three years is now worse than a no-deal crash-out, with the City largely prepared whatever the outcome.
Today’s report brings to light the perils of limbo; three years of dithering has left London clinging onto the number two spot, rather than competing with New York for first place.
If the capital is to fend off its European rivals and reclaim the top spot it once had, giving the City some certainty would be a good start.