Investment Conundrums: Columbia Threadneedle's Burgess on why asset managers will not desert London even under 'onerous Brexit'

Optimism ahead of EU exit

Mark Burgess, deputy global CIO and CIO EMEA at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, has said he expects London to retain its position as one of the leading centres of fund management excellence once the UK formally leaves the European Union (EU), although the firm is making contingency plans for Brexit.

Burgess said he would be surprised if asset managers, who have large operations in London, moved to European hubs such as Frankfurt as it only has a population of 700,000, while Luxembourg is even smaller with nearly 600,000 people. A number of firms, such as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, have already announced plans to move staff from the UK to the continent in the wake of the Brexit vote. "We have a depth of capital market expertise, which is almost unrivalled globally," he said. "There has been a huge amount of financial innovation, coupled with a very deep workforce here, which ...