Post-Brexit, ‘Plus ça change’ for the City of London

The clearest result of Brexit, as seen from a financial markets perspective seven years on from the fateful June 2016 referendum, is that nobody in Europe won. A classic case of a lose-lose situation, as was to be expected. Yet the big outflow of banking jobs from London did not happen, nor did any EU-based financial centre clearly emerge as the winner, and nor did any big boost to London materialise, as some Brexiteers had hoped.

Rather, Europe as a whole lost, as liquidity has become even more clearly concentrated in the US, in many different sectors. As both, the EU and UK are slowly converging again, and with a big political shift expected in the UK next year, prospects for the European financial marketplace are improving. But a decade will have been lost, with EU projects such as banking and capital markets union also clearly impacted.

Karel Lannoo is General Manager of ECMI and CEO of CEPS.