City bosses have warned that tax and regulatory changes risk losing the UK’s top talent to firms overseas by 2030, according to a recent survey.
Stephen Green, chairman of HSBC, said the biggest threats to the City were the Asian cities of Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai, which would steal market share, according to the Guardian.
Research commissioned to mark the 20th anniversary of the CBI/PricewaterhouseCoopers financial services survey, revealed that others were more critical of the UK’s proposed changes to the regulatory regime.
Michael Spencer, chief executive of the world’s largest interdealer brokers Icap, and the Conservative party treasurer, said: “What is potentially damaging to London is if the regulatory burden becomes too burdensome.
“If there is temptation to push more aggressively on deferment of bonuses or capital requirements, that could make the UK less competitive.”
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Last month, a senior Bank of England official said an exodus of bankers moving overseas to avoid the bonus tax could be “a price worth paying” to reform the financial sector.
Andy Haldane, the Bank of England’s head of financial stability, said the new tax might cause some bankers to want to move abroad, but that would be an acceptable loss for the long-term improvement of the banking sector.