Monday 31 October 2016

Scottish Independence is a biggest threat to the retail banking

Scottish Independence

Scottish Independence would pose a biggest threat to the British economy than Brexit itself.

Industry experts said the uncertainties of breaking-up Britain "look even greater" than those triggered by the Leave vote.

Former Royal Bank of Scotland economist Jeremy Peat, and Owen Kelly, the former head of Scottish Financial Enterprise, said the sector was more reliant on English customers.

Their University of Strathclyde report found "nearly every provider of financial services in Scotland" serves the UK rather than EU market.

It follows warnings from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's rivals that her talk of a re-run of 2014's vote is already harming businesses north of the Border.

She insists she is "not bluffing" about the threat of another referendum if the country is forced to accept a "hard Brexit" outside the single market.

The paper from the university's international public policy institute says asset and fund managers could lose out if the UK does not retain so-called "passporting rights", allowing them to trade freely across the bloc.

But it said many already have operations on the Continent through which they could continue to access European markets.

Last week a report by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors found Scotland experienced the largest drop in demand for commercial premise anywhere in the UK following the Brexit vote, with surveyors blaming the independence threat.

The financial services industry is worth £8 billion-a-year to the Scottish economy, employing almost 200,000 people directly and indirectly.

Critics urged the SNP leader to abandon her "obsession with independence".


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