It has been a seismic month in European politics, as the UK voted to leave the European Union on 23rd June.
It’s difficult to know what to predict will happen for Europe’s leasing businesses. Despite the trenchant views and promises of both the Leave and Remain campaign before the referendum, the future is ill-defined.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Access deeper industry intelligence
Experience unmatched clarity with a single platform that combines unique data, AI, and human expertise.
The key political campaigners for each side (Cameron, Johnson, Farage) have, at the time of writing this letter, washed their hands of the clean-up operation. This is incredibly frustrating for the UK’s SMEs and their corresponding lessors, who now have to look forward to an unknown quantity leading the UK through two years of uncertainty.
Businesses need certainty to encourage investment, and the lead-up to the referendum has already affected confidence, investment, and pipeline business.
So it was good to see that the retail bank of Soc Gen committed to the future of its HQ in London, as reported in the press. This makes it more likely that its UK leasing operations will stay here in the same strength. I hope other banks move to reassure their clients sooner rather than later by making statements on their commitments to the UK market.
In the years since ING left the UK, and in light of GE’s sell-off last year, no boardroom decision seems an impossibility.
There is a confidence issue here too, which is most affected by the uncertainty surrounding the next two years. The next series of economic reports from the Office of National Statistics and the Bank of England will be key in determining what is going on with our finances, or at the very least, our confidence.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataPower 50
There has been a considerable response to Leasing Life’s fourth list of top 50 influencers in the leasing market. Over 1100 people voted to register their opinion on who is driving the industry forward.
This includes considerable change in the UK market, so we welcome some new faces and businesses to the list.
New reporter
I would like to welcome our new reporter, Saad Ahmed to the Leasing Life team.
Saad joins us from BRIC+ Magazine, where he was deputy digital editor for their online site covering the developing world market economies.
Saad is already hard at work and is looking forward to getting to know the market.
