London and the UK’s leading status in the global financial system is “fragile”, the boss of Goldman Sachs has warned, as the government grapples with a tough economy.
Speaking ahead of a meeting with the prime minister, David Solomon – chairman and chief executive of the huge US investment bank – told Sky News presenter Wilfred Frost’s The Master Investor Podcast of several concerns related to tax and regulation.
He urged the government not to push people and business away through poor policy that would damage its primary aim of securing improved economic growth, arguing that European rivals were currently proving more attractive.
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He said: “The financial industry is still driven by talent and capital formation. And those things are much more mobile than they were 25 years ago.
“London continues to be an important financial centre. But because of Brexit, because of the way the world’s evolving, the talent that was more centred here is more mobile.
“We as a firm have many more people on the continent. Policy matters, incentives matter.
“I’m encouraged by some of what the current government is talking about in terms of supporting business and trying to support a more growth oriented agenda.
“But if you don’t set a policy that keeps talent here, that encourages capital formation here, I think over time you risk that.”
He had a stark warning about the recent reversal of the “Non Dom” tax policy, which occurred across both the prior Conservative government and the current Labour government, which has played a part in some senior Goldman partners relocating away from London.
