More than three quarters (77%) of UK fund managers believe that the UK government should have made greater efforts to consult the asset management industry more before embarking on negotiations to leave the EU.
A survey of more than 300 fund managers and investors in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world also revealed that 80% of UK fund managers do not think that the UK government’s negotiation team has a good enough understanding of the funds industry to deliver a deal that works well for it.
The survey, commissioned by London-based consultancy MJ Hudson, also found that 63% of global fund investors currently investing in the UK believe the same.
Only three of the government’s 12 negotiating priorities were identified by more than half of UK fund managers as being beneficial to the industry:
- Establishment of a free trade agreement with European markets
- Providing ‘certainty’ throughout and after negotiations
- Maintenance of rights for EU nationals in Britain, and British nationals in the EU
Two-thirds of the UK Government’s stated objectives failed to reach even a 25% approval rating from UK fund managers.
The study also found that 76% of European fund managers and investors outside the UK are pessimistic about the UK’s ability to achieve a negotiated outcome that is acceptable to the UK asset management industry.
This figure is higher than the 53% of UK fund managers who are pessimistic about the likelihood of an acceptable outcome.
MJ Hudson chief executive Matthew Hudson said: “Following the referendum result, which few in our industry wanted and fewer still expected, managers and investors alike are not waiting for the political vacuum to be filled.
“Instead, they are already implementing their own plans and setting up new EU offices and teams so that they retain and grow assets under management post-Brexit, however it plays out.”
With assets under management of over £5.7 billion (€6.5 trillion) the UK asset management industry is the second largest in the world accounting for more than 36% of European assets: more than France, Germany and Switzerland combined.
A research paper from the London School of Economics recently concluded that, of the £24 billion of revenues generated by UK asset managers, as much as £3 billion could move outside of the UK post-Brexit.
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