The contest across the English Channel

Posted by Marc Hodak on August 27, 2009 under Reporting on pay | Be the First to Comment

First France tries to chase its traders over to Switzerland.  Now Great Britain is doing the same.

In the magazine interview, Mr. Turner said that London shouldn’t worry about losing banking business, in part because the U.K. economy has become too dependent on financial services and in part because “London is a classic cluster and it will remain the dominant time zone in Europe.”

If that sounds like a second-best academic, your hunch is confirmed in the next paragraph:

An FSA spokeswoman said his statements were merely part of “an intellectual debate” and that “any specific policy proposals are for politicians to debate and decide.”

That’s kind of a relief.  “This is just an academic exercise, folks.  Our regulators are just flapping their jowls.”  I guess some things are worth reporting, after a fashion.  At least you know where the academic stands.  No one knows what the politicians believe, except that they wish to get reelected, and will compromise most of their other beliefs to preserve that one.  Sarkozy may think that capping bankers’ pay is batsh*t crazy.  But if he has the choice between keeping his job and losing half of the traders in France, the money men are always expendable.