HSBC and Barclays will stay in Britain post-Brexit saying London is still the centre of the financial world
Companies are showing their confidence in the UK and countries are clamouring to do trade deals with us
TWO of the world’s biggest banks have announced they will stay in Britain following the EU referendum result.
HSBC chairman Douglas Flint says London will remain the centre of the financial world after the nation voted for Brexit.
Barclays boss Jes Staley backed this view and said there were no plans to move any staff abroad and his bank would remain “anchored in Great Britain”.
Earlier this year HSBC had looked at the possibility of moving to Hong Kong but concluded it would be better off in London.
At a conference organised by lobby group TheCityUK, Mr Flint said London was the world’s “most important” foreign exchange centre.
He said: “This is still the foreign exchange capital of currencies that have nothing to do with Europe.
"The major trading currency in the world today is the dollar.”
Reassuring people about jobs he also said the referendum vote would not change HSBC’s hiring plans “to any meaningful degree”.
The company already has a major presence in Paris and before the referendum was thinking post-Brexit about 1,000 London jobs might move there.
The bank employs about 47,000 UK staff.
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Mr Flint backs very full access to the single market with the EU so trade can continue with as little interruption as possible.
And Mr Staley agreed, saying Barclays hopes to “stay connected to the European capital markets” and urged against any moves to “build protectionist walls in the financial industry”.
He said the vote might create new jobs on the Continent but would not lead to redundancies in Britain.
reports 19 Lloyds executives have snapped up shares in the bank in a vote of confidence after its price dropped.
They have bought nearly 830,000 shares at between 54p and 57p each after prices came down from 72p before the referendum.
This suggests they expect the bank to bounce back in coming weeks and months.
Away from the financial world, oil giant Royal Dutch Shell is showing its confidence in Britain by saying a £4billion investment in the UK by 2018 would go ahead as planned.
The firm is keeping its headquarters in London and does not think there will be much immediate impact from the vote.
Business Secretary Sajid Javid is preparing for a hectic schedule of visits to countries across the world with nations wanting to increase trade with us when we leave the EU.
David Cameron has met business advisers to tell them the corporate world has to start setting out its agenda.
Trade minister Lord Mark Price, who used to be the boss of Waitrose, is set to visit China, Hong Kong and Brazil.
There have been initial discussions about partnerships with deals with Australia and South Korea and talks with India could also begin soon.
Mail Online reports New Zealand has offered to lend its negotiators to hammer out deals across the globe.
And in the USA, the House of Representatives speaker Paul Ryan says a trade deal between the UK and the States is vital.