[E445]英国脱欧对英国全球金融中心地位的影响
How Will Brexit Affect London's Status As A Global Financial Center?
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Here's a question. What happens when a banker to the world starts cutting itself off from the world?
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
London is a great financial center. And it is, of course, in Great Britain whose people just voted to leave the European Union. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports on what happens to the banks now.
JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE: London has been a global money center for centuries. But in recent decades, with deregulation[放宽监管] and the explosion of global trade, its importance has only grown, especially in derivatives and asset management[资产/投资管理]. It now rivals New York City as a financial power. Nicola Veron is a senior fellow[高级研究员] at the Belgian[比利时的] think tank Bruegel[布勒哲尔].
NICOLAS VERON: There has been a rise in financial globalization, more financial business being done across borders. And London has positioned itself as the best place to capture this business.
ZARROLI: London doesn't just have big banks and trading firms. It has a huge army of accountants[会计人员]and lawyers and consultants. In fact, the financial services industry[金融服务业] plays a much bigger part in the U.K.'s economy than it does in the United States'. Before the Brexit vote, Chancellor of the Exchequer[英国财政大臣] George Osborne warned a group of bank employees about the consequences of leaving the EU.
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GEORGE OSBORNE: It is deceiving[欺骗] people to pretend that we can leave the EU - quit the EU and jobs wouldn't be at risk.
ZARROLI: As long as the U.K. is part of the European Union, its companies can do business anywhere on the continent. And it can move people around without worrying about visas. But last week's Brexit vote leaves everything up in the air. Mark Compton is a partner at the law firm Mayer Brown[美亚博律师事务所] in London. And he says no one really knows how the vote will affect financial firms.
MARK COMPTON: Although the people have voted to leave, nobody will know for a number of years exactly the terms on which we will be leaving.
ZARROLI: And he says no one really knows how the vote will affect financial firms.
COMPTON: So the U.K. is going to be wanting to do its best to preserve the trading environment for financial services, not only for its own businesses, but for those from the U.S., Asia and elsewhere that have set themselves up in London. So it's going to be fighting to keep that.
ZARROLI: Compton says the U.K. could leave the EU but join another union called the European Economic Area. It's not a great option. Joining it would allow the U.K. to still do business anywhere on the continent. But it wouldn't have any say in the EU's laws. And it would still have to open its borders to unfettered[使自由;解开脚链;释放] immigration, which, given last week's vote, seems politically unpalatable[难吃的;讨人厌的,使人不快的]. In the meantime, some big banks are already drawing up plans to pull employees out of London. Nicolas Veron says banks are anxious to show customers they have a plan B.
VERON: Financial firms hate uncertainty. And at this point, there is a huge amount of uncertainty, legal and political, into United Kingdom.
ZARROLI: These firms are said to be weighing whether to move operations to some other city in Europe, such as Frankfurt[法兰克福市] or Dublin[都柏林(爱尔兰共和国的首都)]. And Paris has been making a pretty hard push to attract some of the firms. Paris's deputy mayor[副市长] said recently that he doesn't necessarily want to see big banks flee London. But if they do, his city is more than willing to roll out the red carpet for[隆重欢迎;铺上红色地毯;热烈欢迎] them. Jim Zarroli, NPR News.