Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Joe Biden
(Picture: PA Wire)The “special relationship” between Boris and Biden might be frosty but relations between the money men on either side of the Atlantic couldn’t be better.
New figures show that the US has overtaken the EU as the biggest export destination for UK financial services.
Yanks accounted for almost one in three pounds spent by overseas clients at UK banks, brokers, and advisers last year. Over twice as many dollars are traded in London as in the US — a stunning figure that demonstrates the City’s continued central role in foreign exchange markets post-Brexit.
The pivot to the States, and away from Europe, is partly to be expected: a sour divorce from the EU means the long-hoped for equivalence deal on financial services has still not materialised. Most have given up hope it ever will. That makes selling to our nearest neighbours harder. Financial service exports to the EU dropped by 6.6% last year.
But the shift is not just mechanical. Deepening ties with the US are apparent outside of finance. US investors and companies have spent £1 billion on London offices in just a month.
Closer relations with the land of the free can only be a good thing. The US economy is set to continue growing faster than the EU for the foreseeable future, which will provide a fair wind for Britain.
What’s missing, of course, is the much-vaunted free trade deal. Here things aren’t looking good. Rapprochement between Boris and Biden is needed. Perhaps they could take a leaf out of the bankers’ books?
