Flight of the Brexit Bankers
ByWhere in Europe will they go? If London loses its luster, Dublin and Frankfurt look like winners, but places like Warsaw—yes, Warsaw—stand to gain, too.
After the British stiff-armed Europe this summer, sterling plummeted, London-traded shares quavered, consumer confidence took a dive, and businesses shelved expansion plans. But within a few weeks, Britons saw that the shops were still open, the Tube was running, and the fish and chips remained as crisp as before the June?23 vote.
So, is that it? Has Britain endured all the pain it’s likely to feel over its vote to leave the European Union? Probably not. The repercussions will echo through the City of London’s glass canyons and walnut-paneled boardrooms for years. London, a trading center since Roman times that’s become the world capital of foreign exchange trading and the No.?1 international banking center, has a lot to lose. Consulting, financial, insurance, legal, and related services account for 12?percent of the U.K.’s gross domestic product. They pay more in taxes than any other sector and support an estimated 2.2?million British jobs…
