UK’s total dominance of European banking continues to thwart EU

Official report shows Europe’s top bankers reject Frankfurt and Paris and stay in London

Montage © Facts4EU.Org

The EU’s Paris-based banking regulatory authority struggles to find any good news for the EU

Europe’s top bankers have continued to shun the EU’s anti-Brexit moves, preferring to stay in the City of London and the rest of the UK, the latest official EU report shows.

The UK completely dominates the EU when it comes to the location of Europe’s top bankers. The statutory figures released by the Paris-based European Banking Authority (EBA) show just how dominant the UK has continued to be.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Europe's top bankers vote with their feet and remain planted in the UK
[Source: European Banking Authority Report, released 18 Aug 2021]

UK has 3,519 (71%) of the top banking jobs in the EU and Norway
The UK has 7 times more than Germany
13 times more than France
15 times more than Italy
22 times more than Spain
Overall, the UK has more than 1.4 times the number of all other countries COMBINED

How the EBA was forced to manipulate its chart to show the UK as less dominant than it really is

Readers are aware that Facts4EU.Org always aims to present key information in simple, ‘at-a-glance’ charts, such as the one we have produced above. Very often (as in this case) we are forced laboriously to enter numbers into spreadsheets manually, as the data is not provided in spreadsheet form.

In the EBA’s report, the first chart about top bankers is below. Eagle-eyed readers will notice that it bears no resemblance to Facts4EU.Org’s chart. The reason is simple. For this chart the EBA chose to use a logarithmic scale, rather than the usual linear one. In other words, the scale has been manipulated to make it look like EU countries are doing much better than they really are, in comparison with the UK. The UK’s massive dominance has been ‘squashed’, giving a completely erroneous impression of reality.

What does the EBA’s official report say about Brexit?

The European Banking Authority (the EBA) is mandated to collect information on the number of individuals per institution that are remunerated at a level of €1m per annum or higher, including bonuses and pensions. It refers to these as ‘high earners’ and presents its findings annually.

In its latest report - the last which will include the UK – the EBA struggled to find any evidence of the ‘brain drain’ which was predicted by the Project Fear campaign, warning of massive jobs losses in the City of London and other major UK financial centres.

In its summary statement the EBA says:

“Institutions’ preparation for the UK withdrawal from the EU has affected the distribution of high earners across the EU with a number of high earners relocating from the UK to the EU.”
- EBA report, 18 Aug 2021

However on reading the full report the UK’s numbers decreased by only 95 and the EBA presents no evidence that this very small number was caused by Brexit. Even this small number (which would have represented a dramatic fall for any of the EU countries) still left the United Kingdom in a completely dominant position.

Observations

Possibly not popular, but nevertheless important

Top-earning bankers are well aware that they are not necessarily top of the public’s popularity list. Nevertheless, they represent a barometer for the UK’s position as the leading financial hub in Europe.

In 2016 international banks and financial organisations were queueing up to tell the media and the public that the City of London was facing ruin if the voting public chose to leave the European Union. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were, it seemed, destined to flood out of the City and head for Frankfurt or Paris.

As with all Project Fear threats, this turned out to be yet another false one and the biblical exodus has failed to materialise.

It is important to note that the UK granted EU financial firms ‘equivalence’, allowing them to operate unhindered after Brexit. Conversely, the EU has never reciprocated. When it came to the UK-EU ‘Trade and Cooperation Agreement’ the EU refused point-blank to include financial services. Nevertheless the City continues to thrive – and is rising to the various challenges in its customary way – despite the EU’s best endeavours.

The French-run, French-based, European Banking Authority

Unsurprisingly, the European Banking Authority is run by a Frenchman, François-Louis Michaud. Monsieur Michaud is the Executive Director and is also a Deputy Director General at the European Central Bank.

On the subject of the EBA’s chart in its report, Facts4EU.Org can see no legitimate reason why a logarithmic scale should suddenly have been used, thereby suppressing the clear fact of the UK’s dominance in top banking positions in Europe. The only reason we can think of was to distort the true picture of the continued success of UK banking – ‘despite Brexit’.

Credit: EBA

Facts4EU.Org is happy for the EBA to replace its misleading chart with our more accurate one.

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[ Sources: European Banking Authority ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Fri 20 Aug 2021

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Reader Comments 7

1. Jon , Friday, August 20, 2021, 07:33:

Yet another well researched article
Keep up the great work to keep us well informed.

2. DSP, Surrey , Friday, August 20, 2021, 09:48:

I agree with Jon, comment 1. This is a good counterblast to all the negativism we get from other parts of the media. Well done.

3. Leigh , Saturday, August 21, 2021, 16:16:

The reason to use a logarithmic scale is simple, it shows the difference in the rest of the graph better. Without that scale all the other bars would by too small. Its just that, only a selfcentric fool thinks that this is propaganda. Maybe the empty shelfes at Tescos are not there as well and I just need to use the correct scale.

4. James Davidson , Monday, August 23, 2021, 02:22:

The headline "UK’s total dominance of European banking continues to thwart EU" doesn't match the articles detail.
The story is about people earning more than £1million p.a. , what about those earning £999'999 or less?
I suspect the bosses have remained in London as they perceive a better tax regime in the UK, and the ability to hid cash in tax havens, one of the main reasons that the super wealthy pushed Brexshit.
Please balance you article with details of how many sub £1million roles have moved to the EU since brexshit.
Also please clarify if the salary quoted is the basic or after bonuses.

5. Carole Bennett , Monday, August 23, 2021, 06:42:

Told you we did not need the EU! Never did never will, not to be trusted!

6. P Curtis , Monday, August 23, 2021, 09:24:

"Use ... of logarithmic scale is simple" @Leigh... indeed - apart from when used to support that comment within the actual EDA report of "UK withdrawal from the EU has affected the distribution of high earners across the EU". At which it simply becomes disingenuous and better illustrated by real scale. Only when comparing between the other non-UK countries is it useful, which unfortunately is not the aim of the EDA comment. Thank you Facts4EU for highlighting this.
NB: I'm sure the French, Italian etc overpaid bankers have plenty of their own Swiss and offshore tax havens @JamesDavidson, and it's the EDA themselves who don't distinguish between £1M and £999,999 so good point although naturally you should take it up with them.

7. Leigh , Saturday, August 28, 2021, 14:26:

@P Curtis, “UK withdrawal…“, the title is descriptive enought, the Report is not about the UK at all, its about the situation across the EU, which we are not part of any more. So why do we actually care about that at all. But there happen to be people in the UK who think that writing those kind of articles will help ordinary people in there lives to deal with the problems that came with the Brexit we choose to inflict on ourselfes. Hailing the number of wealthy people will not put any more food in our supermarkets.

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