The financial services sector, which includes the insurance industry, bucked predictions of a decline after voting to leave the European Union in 2016, with exports rising to £83 billion in 2018.
What’s more, new data from trade body TheCityUK revealed that the EU remains the UK’s biggest customer for financial services, highlighting the value of continued access to the European single market.
According to data, net exports of financial and related legal and accounting services grew by 5% from £79 billion in 2017 to an estimated £82.8 billion in 2018. Over 40% of exports went to the EU, while 26% went to the US.
However, it remains uncertain how the recent majority secured by the Conservative Party last week will impact the resiliency of financial services exports, and what Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s commitment to “get Brexit done” will mean for the country’s place in the single market.
“This election means that getting Brexit done is now the irrefutable, irresistible, unarguable decision of the British people,” said Johnson. “With this election I think we’ve put an end to all those miserable threats of a second referendum. And I say respectfully to our stentorian friend in the blue, 12-star hat – that’s it. Time to put a sock in the megaphone and give everybody some peace.”
