In the buildup to 2016's Brexit referendum, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said the US bank could shift 4,000 jobs from Britain, joining a chorus of executives who warned a vote to leave the European Union would ravage the country's finance industry.
Other signs too suggest the British financial industry has weathered Brexit better than many expected: employment in the City of London financial district is near an all-time high, and banks are posting record profits.
But interviews with executives and data reviewed by Reuters paint a more nuanced picture, of Britain as a financial centre whose dominance has been eroded while the country itself has become less attractive for some investors.
"Brexit undeniably weakened the City's position," said Michael Mainelli, who led the financial district as Lord Mayor in 2023 and 2024, citing relocation of jobs from London to cities like Paris and Dublin.
"Yet Europe too is weaker. Both the EU and the UK have been losing out to the enormous growth in Asian financial markets."
To keep serving clients across the 27-country EU, British firms that lost so-called passporting arrangements moved about 40,000 jobs to European financial hubs, according to estimates from the City of London Corporation, the municipal body for the "Square Mile", which speaks for the sector more broadly.
Britain remains second only to the United States as a destination for foreign capital, hosting more than £12 trillion ($16 trillion) in foreign direct investment, portfolio investment and cross-border deposits at the end of 2025 according to IMF data cited by Barclays.
Its share has declined, however, from 8.6% in 2015 to 7% in 2025. In the same period, the U.S. share of foreign capital has increased to 25% from around 20%, thanks mainly to demand for U.S. stocks.
-Reuters
Other signs too suggest the British financial industry has weathered Brexit better than many expected: employment in the City of London financial district is near an all-time high, and banks are posting record profits.
But interviews with executives and data reviewed by Reuters paint a more nuanced picture, of Britain as a financial centre whose dominance has been eroded while the country itself has become less attractive for some investors.
"Brexit undeniably weakened the City's position," said Michael Mainelli, who led the financial district as Lord Mayor in 2023 and 2024, citing relocation of jobs from London to cities like Paris and Dublin.
"Yet Europe too is weaker. Both the EU and the UK have been losing out to the enormous growth in Asian financial markets."
To keep serving clients across the 27-country EU, British firms that lost so-called passporting arrangements moved about 40,000 jobs to European financial hubs, according to estimates from the City of London Corporation, the municipal body for the "Square Mile", which speaks for the sector more broadly.
Britain remains second only to the United States as a destination for foreign capital, hosting more than £12 trillion ($16 trillion) in foreign direct investment, portfolio investment and cross-border deposits at the end of 2025 according to IMF data cited by Barclays.
Its share has declined, however, from 8.6% in 2015 to 7% in 2025. In the same period, the U.S. share of foreign capital has increased to 25% from around 20%, thanks mainly to demand for U.S. stocks.
-Reuters
