London to win battle against Amsterdam, says Professor Bryson

Rick Steves

The EU is slow in decision-making and negotiations. The delays over the COVID-19 vaccination program prove the lack of agility. 

John R. Bryson, Professor of Enterprise and Economic Geography at the University of Birmingham, has stated that London is unlikely to be ousted as the global financial center in the Brexit aftermath.

Mr. Bryson said that Amsterdam’s emergence as the primary center for European share trading suggests that the European Union will never develop a global financial center that displaces London for four reasons.

“First, the European Commission (EC), and the member states, would have to agree to focus all financial service activities in a single center. A decision would have to be made to position Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, or Dublin as the emergent European Global Financial Centre. The politics within the EU would never enable such a decision to be made. Europe will continue to have several smaller competing financial centers”, said Mr. Bryson.

For the second reason, the Professor points to the major governance problem in the European Union. As a confederation, the EU does not have the flexibility of a country in matters in which there is a division of power between member states and the European Commission (EC). The EU is slow in decision-making and negotiations. The delays over the COVID-19 vaccination program prove the lack of agility.

In the Global Financial Centres (GFC) September 2020 index, London was ranked second to New York, with Amsterdam coming at at 22, Dubai at 17, and Singapore at 6. This is the third reason: “London needs to think and act globally rather than locally to maintain its position as one of the leading global financial centers. London has three advantages that are not held by any other European centre – existing scale and networks, a supportive legal system and ‘speedboat’ agility”.

The fourth and last reason for London’s top position as the financial center instead of Amsterdam is the UK legal system, which is based on common law. The EU and its member states are based on civil law, where codes, regulations, and laws can be applied to any conceivable circumstances. Common law develops as the socio-economy develops, which encourages innovation.

In conclusion, Mr. Bryson’s take is that the UK’s agile decision-making is a threat to the EU’s ‘tanker-like’ speed as the financial industry positions itself in the post-pandemic.

Read this next

Digital Assets

Cathie Wood’s sponsored Bitcoin ETF sees historic $200 million inflows

The ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), co-sponsored by Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest, registered historic inflows exceeding $200 million on Wednesday, signaling a robust appetite among investors for Bitcoin-centric investments.

Digital Assets

Sam Bankman-Fried might see his 25-year sentence halved

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison by a Manhattan court on Thursday. This comes after he was convicted of defrauding customers and investors, with Judge Lewis Kaplan highlighting the potential future risks posed by Bankman-Fried.

Technical Analysis

EURJPY Technical Analysis Report 28 March, 2024

EURJPY currency pair under the bearish pressure after the pair reversed down from the major resistance level 164.25, which also stopped the sharp weekly uptrend at the end of last year,

Digital Assets

BlockDAG’s Presale Hits $9.9M, MultiversX & MINA Price Predictions Show Green

Read about BlockDAG’s promising $10 prediction and insights on MultiversX Price Prediction as MINA’s potential unfolds.

Digital Assets

Rockstar Co-Founder and All-star Line Up Join Advisory Board to Take Metacade into Post Beta Orbit

Metacade, the revolutionary Web3 gaming platform, prepares to streak out of beta with a slew of ground-breaking initiatives that will redefine the way blockchain games are developed.

Retail FX

Prop firm The Funded Trader shuts down, claims relaunch in April

Prop trading firm The Funded Trader has ceased all operations, with claims for a relaunch in the near future.

Digital Assets

Ethereum-Based Tokenized Real Estate Platform USP Launches On Republic

How This Californian Startup Is Revolutionizing Real Estate Investment through Ethereum-Based Tokenization.

Digital Assets

Sui Spikes in Weekly DEX Volume, Joins Top 10 of All Blockchains

March DEX volume on Sui stands at over $2.88B – up more than 49% from February – with decentralized exchange Cetus and wholesale liquidity layer DeepBook leading.

Digital Assets

Prisma Finance suffers $10 million crypto exploit, attack ongoing

Liquid staking protocol Prisma Finance fell victim to a security exploit on March 28, resulting in nearly $10 million in Prisma mkUSD and wrapped stETH being stolen by hackers.

<