THE Lord Mayor of London travels to Scotland this week with hopes of forging a united front between the nations’ financial services sectors on Brexit.
The 690th Lord Mayor, Charles Bowman, is set to hold meetings with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and firms including Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Standard Life Aberdeen and Virgin Money, to communicate support for Scotland’s financial and professional services “specifically in a post-Brexit context”.
He will be the first Lord Mayor to visit Scotland in two years.
Bowman told journalists it was essential to “strengthen ties with Edinburgh and Glasgow” to guarantee that England and Scotland “work closely together to ensure the best possible Brexit deal”.
He played down the renewed prospect of Scottish independence – which was sparked by Scotland’s vote to remain in the EU – and its influence on forthcoming meetings.
“Look, Scotland perhaps voted in a particular way in relation to Brexit (but) you might say the same thing in respect of London,” he said.
“The facts and circumstances as they stand at this moment in time is that we are a United Kingdom ... that we will be leaving the European Union.”
It comes just days after Prime Minister Theresa May and Chancellor Philip Hammond hosted a Brexit roundtable with senior executives from the likes of Goldman Sachs, Prudential, Lloyd’s of London, Aviva and Barclays.
May urged banking chiefs to “emphasise the benefits” of preserving the UK’s status as Europe’s key financial centre when meeting with authorities’ rival EU hubs, but Bowman said this should not be seen as a sign of desperation.
“We all play our part in this and we all want the best and the right outcome from what is a complex arrangement.
“So business has to have a part to play, as do the politicians, as do leaders in all sorts of different communities.”
City sources told journalists finance bosses were “encouraged” by the meeting with the PM last week, which was touted as one of the “most positive they’d been to in recent years”.
Bowman warned that the path to Brexit would not be smooth, saying: “There will be an emotional roller coaster as we progress – we’ve seen that over the last 18 months or so.”
There will be a loss of some jobs as a result of the EU divorce, the Lord Mayor admitted, but technology may pose a larger threat to the industry.
“If there are some jobs to lose – we may lose one or two or a few to various centres – but one is more likely in financial services to be challenged by technology, AI and robotics.
“And actually, therein lies the opportunity for the UK ... and driving that significant change in and through financial and professional services is very exciting.”
The Lord Mayor, who will be in Scotland until Wednesday, is also set to launch a “Business of Trust” initiative this week, in an effort to restore faith in the financial sector.
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