Brexit has made it difficult to invest in the UK according to the CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, a former supporter of Britain’s separation from the EU.
Jeffrey Sprecher is the founder and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange. He said that the UK has lost its value as a global trading center since it left the single market. In addition, the uncertainty surrounding some Brexit rules made it hard to invest in British companies.
He said that they still seemed to be trying to figure out ‘what would a post Brexit UK look like in terms of regulation’. “It’s difficult to make investment decision for us either in London or continental Europe.”
Sprecher is just the latest international executive to claim that the UK’s appeal has diminished to investors ever since the vote to leave the EU was taken in 2016. In October, one of the largest infrastructure investors in the world said that Brexit contributed to the UK’s lacking attractive investments.
He said that Brexit “complicated things” for the UK which was historically a global centre of trading. Sprecher stated that “there was this international movement to see London as an entry point to Europe,” adding that the UK is now a “foreign nation” and that investing in the US is easier.
Sprecher’s remarks are in stark contrast to the stance he took immediately after the UK decided to leave the EU.
In 2017, he urged Britain to “have swagger”, and argued it could become an area with low taxes while avoiding the heavy-handed regulations from Brussels.
The UK played a key role in developing ICE. This $78bn company bought the International Petroleum Exchange, based in London, in its early years and added Liffe later, the derivatives market. Atlanta-based company has evolved from its trading roots to a vast, data-centric enterprise and a major player in the US Mortgage Market over recent years.
Sprecher spoke at the Futures Industry Association’s annual conference, held in Florida. He was part of a panel discussion between exchange group heads on how geopolitical uncertainty would affect their businesses.
He said, “We are thinking more about long-term relationships between regulators and nations in a way that we haven’t done before.”
Adena Friedman from Nasdaq, the chief executive of the company, said at the same event, that global regulatory complexity is increasing, but that appetite for international investing remains strong.
Investors are still looking to invest in countries they believe will be changing, or that offer new opportunities. Money flows are still global even though politics is becoming more localized.
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