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London To Mumbai (In Two Easy Steps)
Gordon Brown has made it clear he wants to clip bankers' pay once we're out of the current mess. The government has no clear means of doing so and frankly, we hope they have better things to do over the next few weeks than wreak their revenge on London's banking community.
The Guardian has a look at bank salaries. Many readers reeling at the figures involved might miss this crucial paragraph:
"If one bank holds down pay, then staff will leave and go to one that doesn't," said one fund manager. "And if London becomes badly paid then there will be an exodus to Mumbai, Shanghai or Dubai."
EURSOC has argued for a fortnight that punitive measures against banks and bankers will drive financial services out of Britain and Europe and into Asia. These economies are growing as ours are slowing, and once lost, it could be centuries before they return to London in significant numbers. India, China and the Arab world may not have the diversions that London can currently offer. However, let us not forget that London was a forbidding and provincial place prior to the boom in financial services which began in the 1980s. If we are seeing the end of that era, as some appear to hope, London's status as one of the world's capitals will suffer likewise. The 2012 Olympics might be held for the first time in a First World capital on the way down, rather than in a Third World city on the rise.
