French chief attempts to lure London businesses

Allo! Allo! Paris has wasted no time flaunting its Gallic charms at British businesses worried about the potential effects of Brexit.

A letter has arrived on the desk of 4000 British executives from Valérie Pécresse, head of the Paris regional government, in which she tells them: “The Paris region offers an unparalleled quality of life. We urge British business to think about what’s next, move on and come to Europe,” Pécresse said. “Let’s not be naive: this is a competition and others also want these jobs.”

Frankfurt and Paris have already begun lobbying hard to wrest back control of the multi-billion-dollar euro-clearing industry from London. Paris believes that as many as 30,000 financial services jobs are up for grabs when the UK leaves the EU.

Pécresse told Bloomberg: “We’re the only truly global city seeking this business. Frankfurt doesn’t have our depth, Dublin is on Europe’s periphery.”

She also urged French president François Hollande to drop plans to impose a so-called Tobin tax on financial transactions to make the country more attractive to outside investors.