Is it a good thing investment banking/PrivateEquity/Hedge Funds are located inLondon

Is it a good thing investment banking/PrivateEquity/Hedge Funds are located in London? Does anyone think these apart from back office functions (Deutsch Bank in Birmingham, JP Morgan in Bournmouth, BNY Mellon in Manchester, BofA Merrill Lynch in Chester maybe someone can tell me the other regional offices) should be spread more around the country? Since there has been debate in the media in the past that too much of the financial services industry is based in London and the South East.

Reply 1

a443s

Look up 'economies of agglomeration'

Reply 2

tengentoppa

I've heard there's some advantage to being in "the City" as it is a separate area to the rest of the UK. Also, London is one of the world's three global financial centres, with a very liquid stock market. It's the ideal place for the top banks.

Reply 3

nulli tertius

Original post by hsv

That isn't totally true:-

Co-op Bank in Manchester

HBOS in Halifax and Edinburgh

RBS in Edinburgh

Northern Rock in Newcastle

Presbyterian Mutual in Belfast

Reply 4

hsv

Original post by nulli tertius

That isn't totally true:-

Co-op Bank in Manchester

HBOS in Halifax and Edinburgh

RBS in Edinburgh

Northern Rock in Newcastle

Presbyterian Mutual in Belfast

Was/is Northern Rock, Presbyterian Mutual HBOS Investment Banks though? Out of all of them as far as I know only RBS has an investment banking arm. Did they have front office investment banking positions outside London and you would not really call them a major investment banking player in Europe despite the ABN AMBRO purchase compared to Barclays Capital/Investment bank or Deutsche bank, Credit Suisse or UBS.

Reply 5

nulli tertius

Original post by hsv

I think you have missed the irony. What all of them have in common is financial collapse or near financial collapse.

Reply 6

hsv

Original post by nulli tertius

I think you have missed the irony. What all of them have in common is financial collapse or near financial collapse.

Lol yeah I did, sorry. Btw since I think (if my memory serves me correctly) you answer a lot of threads in the legal careers forum, could you help with the question I have about prosecuting corruption in the society thread? Can only the state prosecute against corruption and what if the corrupt individual has friends in high places (close to the President/Prime Minister) in that particular country. Is there anything a individual can do against them, even if they whistleblow?

Reply 7

Joinedup

Good for them or good for the rest of us?

Reply 8

hsv

Original post by Joinedup

Good for them or good for the rest of us?

Is it good for the rest of us? I suppose it forces all the front office investment bankers private equity firm workers and hedge fund workers to London which forces all the workers interested in those industries to move to London where costs of living are more expensive etc. In the US at least UBS and Drexel Burnham Lambert established major offices on the West Coast in LA, thought that is a bigger market though London does serve the world as well, shouldn't the UK as a whole?. What is your take on the topic?

Reply 9

shinninglikeme

Haha

Thats the way way Economy works my dear.......

Reply 10

hsv

Original post by shinninglikeme

Haha

Thats the way way Economy works my dear.......

Hmm read in The death of gentlemanly capitalism that before the big bang some UK investment banks or "merchant banks" as the Brits called them then had offices in Birmingham. what do we have here now some boutiques that you can count on one hand and no major ones at that.

Reply 11

Joinedup

Original post by hsv

Yeah it's a paradox - 21st century technology means bums could be on seats anywhere in the world but they've clustered up tighter than when everyone was shouting across the room at each other.

IMO it's bad for the nation to be too dependent on financial services and it's bad for the nation to have london running away with all the growth.