Mark Whitehouse, Columnist

Banks Seem Oddly Unconcerned About Brexit

They keep doing more business from the U.K.

April 30, 2018 at 6:00 AM UTC

Mark Whitehouse is a member of the editorial board covering global economics and finance. Previously, he reported on economics for the Wall Street Journal and was managing editor of Vedomosti, a Russian-language business daily.

Keeping calm.
Photographer: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

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Is the U.K. really going to leave the European Union? Judging from their lending activity, bankers might be having some doubts.

A couple of months ago, I looked at the volume of cross-border bank lending originating in the U.K. – a sort of indicator of the country’s, and particularly London’s, standing as a global financial hub. The data showed exactly the opposite of what one would expect if banks were worried about Brexit: The volume of lending from institutions located in the U.K., both domestic and foreign, had increased since Britain voted to leave the EU.