Asset managers fear UK will suffer Brexit jobs exodus
Headcount at fund houses could drop 23% over three years, according to one estimate
Thousands of job losses are expected across the UK’s £7tn asset management industry as a result of Brexit, according to two surveys that will add to concerns about the City of London’s future position as a global financial centre.
Asset management companies employ around 37,000 staff directly in the UK, with a further 55,000 working in related back- and middle-office roles that investment companies often outsource, according to the Investment Association, the trade body.
UK fund managers think that 16 per cent of asset management jobs based in Britain could move to other financial centres by the end of 2020, according a survey of 300 managers and investors by MJ Hudson, a London-based consultancy.
Investors outside the UK are even more pessimistic. They expect close to a quarter (23 per cent) of the UK asset management industry’s headcount to move over the next three years. Job losses on this scale would result in a significant hit to UK tax revenues and have a knock-on impact on other sectors, a problem that has featured little in the Brexit debate so far.
Only one respondent in MJ Hudson’s survey expected to see headcount across the UK’s investment industry rise by 2020.
The CFA Society of the UK last week released the results of a survey of 1,100 investment professionals that painted a similarly worrying picture. Just four in 10 of the EU nationals polled said that they planned to continue working in the UK after Brexit, while 16 per cent said they planned to leave. The remainder (42 per cent) were undecided.
Investment professionals from outside Europe were noticeably more optimistic. Around 69 per cent of the respondents holding non-EU passports, mainly Asians and US citizens, said they planned to work on in the UK.
Nine out of 10 EU respondents said the City of London’s competitiveness had deteriorated as a result of the Brexit vote, a conclusion that was shared by 71 per cent of British respondents.