$14 Billion Says Brexit Threat Is Real
Threadneedle's move isn't simply technical. It's about Brexit.
London’s long sunset.
Photographer: Chris RatcliffeOn the face of it, Columbia Threadneedle's decision to transfer 10 billion pounds ($14 billion) of assets from its U.K. fund range to equivalents in Luxembourg looks nothing more than a technical reshuffling. Viewed through the lens of Brexit, though, it highlights that — in the worst-case scenario — a chunk of the British asset management industry could melt away almost overnight.
According to the Investment Association, a trade group, U.K. fund companies manage about 8 trillion pounds of assets — second only to the U.S. About 2.6 trillion pounds of that is for overseas customers, with clients from the European Union contributing about half of that non-domestic total.