Satyajit Das, Columnist

Can the City Survive?

Despite Brexit, London's place as a leading global financial center looks safe.

June 27, 2017 at 7:00 AM UTC

By Satyajit Das

Satyajit Das is a former banker and the author, most recently, of "A Banquet of Consequences."

London's ecosystem will be hard to replicate.
Photographer: Leon Neal/Getty Images

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Ever since Britain voted to leave the European Union, analysts have debated the City’s fate. In 2016, the British financial services sector employed more than 1 million people (3.1 percent of all U.K. jobs) and contributed around 7.2 percent of the U.K.’s total gross value added, just over half of it from London. Any threat to the sector -- and to London’s place as arguably the leading global financial center -- would be a major blow.

Fortunately for the U.K., Brexit itself won’t erode the significant advantages London currently enjoys. Perhaps more importantly, neither will it help European rivals build up similar advantages.