France will set up a special task force of corporate leaders and politicians aimed at luring businesses and talents from London as the UK prepares to leave the EU.
The news comes after Paris’ financial district has unveiled an advertising campaign aimed to underscore the attractiveness of the French capital for business in the wake of the Leave vote with the slogan: “Tired of the fog? Try the frogs. Choose Paris La Defense”.
The freshly appointed group will be led by Ross McInnes, an Oxford-educated Franco-Australian and chairman of French engine-maker Safran. He will take up the role of the “ambassador” drawing companies based in the UK to Paris, according to the Financial Times.
McInnes will be joined by Socialist Party mayor Anne Hidalgo and Valérie Pécresse, the centre-right MP for the Paris region.
The group is hoping to capitalise on banks' concerns about losing “passporting rights” which allow them to sell their services freely across the rest of the EU and give firms based in Europe unfettered access to Britain. In addition to the finance industry, the group will also target the mining and energy sectors.
The loss of passporting rights could be devastating to the City of London as nearly 5,500 firms registered in the UK use passporting rights to operate in other countries.
Setting up a special team is France's latest initiative to lure major international firms from London to Paris.
French financial regulators in September said they were simplifying the laborious process of registering new financial companies in Paris “in the context of the Brexit vote”.
While, Manuel Valls, the French Prime Minister, vowed to simplify tax rules for expatriates in the immediate aftermath of the June 23 referendum.
France’s finance minister Michel Sapin previously said the Leave camp appeared to be “totally unprepared for any of the consequences” of Brexit.
He warned: “Britain won’t be in the same position as it was before. Things will change. Things have already changed."
