Around 20 banks, unfazed by Brexit, to invest £500m in Britain

[LONDON] Around 20 startup banks and financial firms have reaffirmed plans to invest a total of up to £500 million (S$894.6 million) to open in Britain, consulting firm PwC said on Friday.

These investment plans will be a boost for Britain's financial services sector, beset by rumours of job cuts and firms moving overseas in the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave the European Union and potentially surrender some of its access to EU markets.

The banks are a mixture of UK, European, and non-EU businesses and have already committed £200 million , PwC said, with total funding of up to half a billion pounds featured in their business plans.

Stephen Morse, financial services partner at PwC, said the around 20 clients investing in Britain were not only mainstream banks, mortgage lenders and asset managers. "There are a range of new technology-enabled banks, fintech businesses, commercial banks and even niche investment banks who have identified gaps in the market in part caused by big global banks having pulled out of some businesses over the past few years," he said.

Since the Brexit vote last week, banks, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, have denied rumours they are already moving thousands of jobs out of Britain as a result of the referendum.

REUTERS