[ M A R K E T R E V I E W | B R E X I T ]
“ Asset managers must stay nimble to thrive in this new market environment . The impact of Brexit is complex , particularly given the uncertainty surrounding negotiations .”
LIZ NOLAN , EMEA CEO , STATE STREET already applied for several trading and trade reporting licenses in the Dutch city .
“ The complexity and the lack of clarity of the application of a hard Brexit may decrease the effectiveness , or applicability of some of these contingency plans . As is the case with all change , these contingency plans introduce some change management risk ,” the LSEG warned upon announcing its Brexit contingency plan . The applications were reportedly made for the LSEG ’ s multilateral trading facility ( MTF ) Turquoise , its reporting services business TRADEcho , and the matching , validation and reconciliation platform UnaVista .
Fears of a ‘ no-deal ’ continue to drive planning among London ’ s firms , but the number of UK employees in total that are expected to relocate has remained broadly flat in the first half of this year at around 10,000 people since the result . There is still time for clarity and compromise to emerge from the chaotic negotiations , but financial institutions have been forced to make decisions on Brexit without that clarity , instead relying heavily on contingency planning .
There are many industry participants that strongly believe that Brexit is not an existential threat to London ’ s global financial hub status . EY ’ s Ali believes it is unlikely that one pre-eminent financial services hub will emerge in Europe post-Brexit and that London will still be a leading global financial centre .
“ Companies ’ worst-case scenarios appear to be less drastic than initially feared , but words are now becoming actions and plans are becoming reality ,” EY ’ s Ali added . “ We are seeing more and more companies name multiple locations , unsurprisingly focused on those where they have existing operations or there is an existing financial services infrastructure to slot into .”
40 // TheTrade // Autumn 2018