Brexit Outlook: UK finance positive amid ‘no-deal’ risk

LONDON: London’s financial district will recover in the long run from a no-deal Brexit despite facing initial “shocks and disruptions”, said City Head, Catherine McGuinness on Monday.

“I do think... a ‘no-deal’ Brexit cliff-edge risk has the potential to cause shocks and disruptions but I think it is less serious than it was initially because of the preparation made,” she told a press briefing. “We will find a way of muddling through because of planning but there will be disruptions,” said City of London Corporation Policy Chair McGuinness, the local government authority for the capital’s powerful financial district.

“I am very confident about London’s future and the UK’s financial sector,” she added, pointing to strong growth for the capital’s ‘fintech’ and ‘green’ finance sectors.

And McGuinness noted that the “UK financial sector is possibly further advanced than other sectors because it started planning as soon as the referendum” in favour of leaving the EU in 2016.

Around 5,000 finance jobs could have been moved from the UK by the time the country departs the European Union, irrespective of whether a deal is struck, she said.  

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2019.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.