, Columnist
London Traders Are Frogs Boiling in a Brexit Pot
The shift in clearing to Frankfurt is just the start.
Slowly getting hotter.
Photographer: Gary Yeowell/Digital VisionThis article is for subscribers only.
The news that Deutsche Bank AG has transferred about half of its business clearing euro-denominated derivatives to Frankfurt from London shouldn’t come as a surprise. But it’s another reminder that money flows to where it feels most welcome and stays where it’s well treated — and post-Brexit London is set to be a more hostile environment for finance.
Even by the standards of international banking, there’s a lot at stake in euro clearing. London stole a march on its European competitors at the birth of the common currency project; Brexit has given hope to Frankfurt and Paris and all of the other pretenders to the crown of being Europe’s most important financial city.