Should-Read: Daniel Thomas: London life proves hard to give up for Brexit relocations
Should-Read: “Switzerland yoked to Spain” was what one Eurocrat said about England and Wales. Me? I think the City of London should expand its boundaries beyond the Roman walls, and reactivate its Hanseatic agreements with Hamburg and company: Daniel Thomas: London life proves hard to give up for Brexit relocations: “Brexit…. Some of the most important conversations were… but in the kitchens and living rooms of those learning their fates in the first wave of company relocations…
…My Valentine’s Day supper was peppered with too much talk about cutting ties—with my partner’s firm looking to shift staff to Amsterdam. And I’m not the only one….. This is a crunch month for many, especially among the US financial groups that have less capacity in Europe and so have to make plans earlier. The debate has moved out of the boardrooms to the HR departments…. This week, a French financial services lobbyist said up to 4,000 jobs were expected to move to Paris—lured by Emmanuel Macron’s charm offensive and tax exemptions—while Frankfurt now expects up to 1,000 this year. European school intakes are a good gauge. International schools in Frankfurt and Paris are among those expanding while Goldman Sachs has reserved 80 schools places in Frankfurt. Bankers suggest up to 1,000 places are being sought at international schools by financial services groups in Germany alone….
One banker—on the list to move to Paris because he speaks French—says moving from London will be made easier by issues such as local tax and politics as well as the culture and access to the mountains for skiing…. There is also a new tribe being set up of Europe-trotting business people—the 5:2ers with families and homes in Britain who live for the working week out of a suitcase. They are pricing the commute on the Eurostar and into City airport (and talking with spouses about how much they need to be around). One banker says that his francophone members of staff had initially been excited about the prospect of cuts to personal income tax rates. But enthusiasm quickly cooled, he adds, when his “Eurotrash” colleagues discovered they could be moving to Dublin, and even further from their beloved beaches and ski slopes…