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by ben_w 2000 days ago
> Funds for sure seem to have stay put in London, some moved but this is definitely a minority.

I’ve seen it reported that £1 trillion of assets were being moved out. Was that report incorrect, or was it a misleading number that is somehow vastly less relevant than it appears at first glance?

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/20/business/brexit-economy-b...

2 comments

Assets are often held somewhere very different than the jobs, business, taxes etc. Banking licenses for example require holding enough capital in the jurisdiction to cover for unexpected shocks. But where the decisions physically take place is a whole different question.

In practice, for the Brexit/London question, it seems London banks set up small offices in the continent to ask as a front for regulators and EU clients, moved capital as necessary, but kept all significant business in London - so far at least.

Remember, this is finance, capital is transferred via a wire. It’s not mining, real estate or farming.

Your answer, while interesting, hasn’t changed my confusion.

When you wrote that “funds” mostly stayed put, what do you mean by “fund”? An ELI5 style explanation would be great, because to me (with no economics/finance qualifications) a “fund” is the money.

Assets != jobs
Didn’t say they were. Are “funds” not assets? Because that would be another explanation I had not previously considered.