來源于《社論》版塊
Can the City survive Brexit?
倫敦金融城能否挺過英國退歐?
The biggest international financial centre in the world faces its toughest test
世界上最大的國際金融中心面臨著最嚴峻的考驗
The world has a handful of great commercial hubs. Silicon Valley dominates technology. For electronics, head to Shenzhen. The home of luxury is Paris and the capital of outsourcing is Bangalore, in India. One of the mightiest clusters of all is London, which hosts the globe’s largest international financial centre. Within a square mile on the Thames, a multinational firm can sell $5bn of shares in 20 minutes, or a European startup can raise seed finance from Asian pensioners. You can insure container ships or a pop star’s vocal cords. Companies can hedge the risk that a factory anywhere on the planet will face a volatile currency or hurricanes and a rising sea level a decade from now.
世界上有幾個偉大的商業中心。硅谷主導著科技。深圳主要是電子產品。奢侈品之鄉是巴黎，外包之都是印度的班加羅爾。其中最強大的集群之一是倫敦，擁有全球最大的國際金融中心。在泰晤士河一平方英里內，一家跨國公司可以在20分鐘內發行50億美元的股票，或者一家歐洲初創企業可以從亞洲退休人員那里籌集種子資金。你可以為集裝箱船或流行歌星的聲帶投保。企業可以對沖從現在起10年內，全球任何地方的工廠都將面臨匯率波動、颶風和海平面上升的風險。
This metropolis of money, known as the City, generates £120bn ($152bn) of output a year—as much as Germany’s car industry. Because it allocates capital and distributes risk at a vast scale, its influence is global. But now, with a “no-deal” conclusion looking increasingly likely after a change of leader of the Conservative Party, Brexit threatens to rupture Britain’s financial links with the European Union. If Labour wins the next election under Jeremy Corbyn, Britain will also end up with its most left-wing government since 1945, one that is deeply hostile to capital and markets. Either outcome would make the EU poorer and damage London’s position. Together, they could change the workings of the global financial system.
這座被稱為“金融城”的金錢之都每年創造1200億英鎊(1520億美元)的產值，相當于德國整個的汽車業。由于其大規模的資本配置和風險分配，其影響是全球性的。但現在，在保守黨領導人換屆后，“無協議脫歐”的可能性似乎越來越大，英國退歐可能會破壞英國與歐盟的金融聯系。如果工黨在杰里米•科爾賓領導下的下屆選舉中獲勝，英國也將迎來自1945年以來最左翼的政府，這個政府對資本和市場極為敵視。無論是哪種結果，都會讓歐盟更加貧窮，損害倫敦的地位。它們可以共同改變全球金融體系的運作方式。
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