What Brexit might mean for the UK financial services sector

With the participation of ECMI General Manager Karel Lannoo

Neither the CSFI (a London-based think-tank) nor CEPS has an institutional position for or against Brexit – although the CSFI did publish a survey of City opinion in 2015, which found that 73% of respondents would either 'definitely' or 'probably' vote for the UK to remain part of the EU in the event of a referendum. (That said, virtually no one who was surveyed had anything good to say about the EU: it was simply a question of preferring the devil you know to the devil you don’t know).

However, it seems to us that, within the Brusselsnomenklatura, there is a dangerous tendency to assume that the UK financial services sector is almost monolithically 'onside' when it comes to Europe – that, as far as the City is concerned, the arguments in favour of remaining part of the EU are so overwhelming that anyone who supports Brexit must be mad, bad or utterly ignorant of the real costs and benefits.

It isn’t like that. True, the big City players, particularly foreign-owned banks, are (for the most part) pro-European. But the fund management industry is much more divided – as are hedge funds and the derivatives specialists, as well as City-based economists and strategists.

It seemed to us that we would be doing our friends in Brussels a favour if we were to give them the opportunity to hear a wider range of City views – and to see for themselves that not all Eurosceptics (or euro-realists, as they might prefer to be called) have horns. We are, therefore, delighted to invite you (and/or a colleague) to a panel discussion that will cover a wide range of City opinions on the EU.

Speakers

• Roger Bootle, Executive Chairman, Capital Economics
• Danny Corrigan, CEO at CME European Trade Repository
• Kay Swinburne, Member of the European Parliament
• Jeremy Browne, Special Representative in Brussels, City of Lonodn Corporation
• Doug Shaw, Chief Operating Officer, Roxbury Asset Management

Registration and coffee from 16:30 - Discussion from 17:00 to 19:00 - Drinks from 19:00 to 20:00

Info and registration

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