Brexit gifts Europe $1.6bn FDI boost

Brexit has won EU countries a $1.6bn boost in FDI as companies from all over the globe relocated operations from the UK to adjust the matrix of their European interests according to the results of the June 2016 referendum. 

As  many as 59 companies announced 65 relocation projects from the UK into the EU between July 2016 and December 2019, when the landslide win of the Conservative party at the December 12 elections put an end to months of uncertainty and paved the way for Brexit to finally happen on January 31, figures from foreign investment monitor fDi Markets show. The total amount of FDI unlocked by these relocation projects stands at $1.65bn, fDi Markets estimates.

UK companies led the way with 23 announced relocations, followed by US companies (16) and Japanese ones (nine), fDi Markets figures show.

Sector-wise, financial institutions stood out as it soon became clear that they would lose the right to sell financial services and products to clients in the EU from the UK – the so-called passporting rights. The likes of HSBC, JPMorgan, Barclays, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley all announced relocations from London to the EU to hedge Brexit-related risks. Financial services accounted for 33 of the 65 announced relocations, fDi Markets figures show.

Companies relocating operations from the UK picked different EU cities for different reasons. Foreign investors picked Paris and Frankfurt to relocate their corporate and investment banking operations; asset managers favoured Dublin as their post-Brexit EU base, whereas non-financial investors chose Amsterdam: the Dutch capital attracted the European Medicines Agency previously based in London, as well as the headquarters of major tech companies like Japanese Sony and Panasonic.

Overall, Paris with 10 and Frankfurt with nine attracted the highest number of relocation projects in the whole of the EU, followed by Amsterdam (8) and Dublin (6) and Madrid (5), fDi Markets figures show. At a country level, Germany attracted the highest number of relocations (16), followed by the Netherlands (12), France (11), Spain (8) and Ireland (6).