MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bloomberg trusts London will continue as the financial center of Europe

“London is always going to be the financial centre of Europe for the foreseeable future. It has the things that the finance industry needs,” said Bloomberg.

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg said on Tuesday that London would continue to be the financial centre of Europe for the foreseeable future and maintain its position alongside New York as one of the dominant trading capitals in the world though Brexit will reduce the city’s growth.

 Bloomberg said that he would still have pledged to build a new European headquarters for his global data and news business in the center of the financial district of London had he known that Britain would vote in favor of Brexit.

“London is always going to be the financial centre of Europe for the foreseeable future. It has the things that the finance industry needs,” said Bloomberg.

“What will happen with Brexit is that some jobs will move, although they may very well be replaced here, but that the growth rate of London as a financial centre will certainly not be what it would be if Brexit doesn’t take place.”

London is the home of bonds and fund management operations, global foreign exchange, and to more banks than any other financial centre. The city, however, faces upheaval as businesses determine whether to relocate jobs to continental Europe to maintain serving customers there after Britain withdraws from the European Union in 2019.

Bloomberg is the founder of the information and technology company that bears his name in 1981 after leaving Salomon Brothers. He said that voting for Brexit was the “single dumbest thing that any country has ever done.”

However, the former mayor of New York said that London would maintain its top spot as one of the major financial capitals in the world alongside New York.

“New York and London will be the two big financial centers,” said Bloomberg. “In Asia there is no one city that dominates. New York is the financial centre of the United States, London is the financial centre of Europe, it’s going to stay that way for a long time.”