London’s approx 8 million size with approx 1 million
in financial services makes it difficult, if not impossible, to displace
That is the
opinion developed
in the last quarter by Karen Jones, multiple
award-winning founder and CEO of Jones Publishing - Citywealth. Jones Publishing has 460 blue chip
clients who include the likes of PwC, UBS and Barclays.
With the Brexit
near-hysteria mounting in the New Year, these re-assuring words should come as
a relief not only to the City’s finance industry, but to all businesses jittery
about the impending Article 50 trigger date.
Amongst her frequent
business trips which last year included China and USA, Jones recently returned
from speculative Brexit research missions to Dublin and Frankfurt, two of the
European cities reporting intent on luring financial companies away from
London.
Dublin (population approx 600,000)
Plus point is English
language.
Downside: less
developed laws, slow airport, heavy traffic, no infrastructure like schools,
hospitals, housing, restaurants to take a million people.
Whilst the majority of Irish
capital advisors report a 10% increase in enquiries and instructions, it is most unlikely to take away business from London, and if
they do, it will be a negligible amount, she reports, based on speaking
to major law firms. One of whom said the thought that Dublin could challenge
London made him splutter with laughter in his coffee cup. Although like London, tech companies are opening up locally.
Dublin with a population size of approx 600,000 does not have the infrastructure like schools or hospitals to absorb a
million financial services staff. It is also not used to the high volumes of business travellers in London who take speed for
granted. Immigration took forty minutes with one person checking passports and
several planes landing and her taxi was stuck in traffic for an hour in a small
City. Jones experienced low levels of service
in hotels which were not used to multiple business requests or the need for
productivity. Judging
by the meetings she attended, laws are behind UK, and bureaucracy is
higher.
Frankfurt (population approx 700,000. Munich population approx 1.3 m)
Two plus points:
efficient, cheap train/tube system and basic food quality was higher.
Downside: English
language very patchy, expensive, cash economy not used to credit/debit cards,
minimal restaurant/bar options. Small city.
Surprisingly,
the German city increasingly quoted as a rival to London, is a domestic business market, many people
working in hotels and taxis don’t speak English and restaurant options
are limited. Though there is an international
financial services business present in the city, operating in Frankfurt would
be difficult culturally, is expensive and a
challenge language wise. It is also a cash economy, restaurants and taxis generally don’t want credit cards which is very different to London which
is fully contact less now even paying for coffee with cards. Furthermore, it was
something of a surprise to find that many of the ATM cash points don’t work for
most UK debit cards when cash was what
businesses demanded, which means their financial
services is just not ready for international
travellers. Business dining was very limited.
China …
Strangely Frankfurt
reminded Jones of her trip to China last year which
included a former capital, Chongqing with a population of 10 million people, so
much bigger than London, with language
barriers present and similar reliance on cash for transactions.
Difficulty in China, was expected as it is only newly embracing capitalism and nearly 4,800 miles away from London, but it was surprising that Frankfurt, a European city tipped as ambitious
to rise to the position of financial capital of a post Brexit Europe,
should be a struggle for UK business visitors. And
even lumped together with Munich would represent a population of approx 2 million, far smaller than London’s 8 million+.
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