Brexit: Banks not worried by leave vote and ready to invest in Britain
Around 20 financial firms are ready to invest £500m in Britain despite Brexit vote.
Britain's vote in favour of leaving the European Union has not fazed the banking sector, as 20 start-up banks and financial firms are set to invest approximately £500m ($666m, €598m) in the British market.
According to a report from consulting firms PwC, the banks, which include British, European and non-EU lenders, have already committed to invest £200m, with an additional £300m in funds outlined in their business plans.
Stephen Morse, financial services partner at PwC, said mortgage lenders and asset managers were also among the 20 firms interested in investing in Britain.
"There are a range of new technology-enabled banks, fin-tech businesses, commercial banks and even niche investment banks who have identified gaps in the market in part caused by big global banks having pulled out of some businesses over the past few years," he added.
The report came on the same day as Barclays and HSBC revealed there were no plans in place to move their businesses away from the UK. The banks, two of Britain's biggest lenders, stressed they remained committed to investing in the UK financial markets and urged the government to secure full access to the single market to ensure trade would not suffer following the vote.
Both pieces of news will provide a welcome boost to the UK banking sector which, in the lead-up to last week's referendum and in the immediate aftermath, had been troubled by reports job cuts and of banks planning to move their operations in Europe.
On Tuesday (28 June), Moody's Investor Service lowered its outlook for 12 UK banks and building societies and downgraded the outlook on Britain's banking system from "stable" to "negative" in the wake of the EU vote.
"We expect lower economic growth and heightened uncertainty over the UK's future trade relationship with the EU to lead to reduced demand for credit, higher credit losses and more volatile wholesale funding conditions for UK financial institutions," said Laurie Mayers, associate managing director at Moody's.
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