Paris May Overtake London

Paris could overtake London as Europe’s most important financial center in a matter of years, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said, after days of wooing American and European bankers in the Swiss Alps and gilded Palace of Versailles. In an interview with Reuters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Le Maire pointed to France’s strong regulatory framework, the business-friendly reforms being implemented by President Emmanuel Macron and the allures of Paris as a place to live. “There will be a new leader after Brexit,” Le Maire said. “I see the possibility for France to become in the coming years the most important financial center in Europe and the UK is in Europe.” Paris is one of several continental cities, along with Frankfurt, Dublin and Amsterdam, that want to lure business from London banks that are eager to stay based in Europe’s Single Market after Britain leaves the EU in March 2019. But early indications are that they will see a trickle rather than a flood of jobs move in 2018, with the prospect of a “softer” Brexit discouraging large redeployments of staff.