Brexit battles: Paris competes with Frankfurt as bank bosses ‘speed up’ plans for London exodus

Paris took swipe at Frankfurt in the Brexit scramble to woo London bankers with the question: “Who has taken his wife, husband or partner to Frankfurt to spend a weekend?”

French finance chiefs are seeking to use the reputation of Paris as a cultural gem and romantic getaway to persuade firms to move staff there rather than to the more drab German city’s Bankenviertel.

Arnaud de Bresson, managing director of Paris Europlace, which promotes the French capital’s financial sector, said there were four key business reasons why banks should choose his city.

Speaking on a visit to London, he argued that Paris is the only global city in Europe on a par with the UK capital. It has a diversified financial centre, it is innovative with a burgeoning fintech sector and is becoming a more attractive place to do business due to tax and labour reforms under President Emmanuel Macron.

“I presume we don’t need to mention the cultural side and way of life in Paris,” he added.

“As one businessman asked, ‘Who has taken his wife, husband or partner to Frankfurt to spend a weekend?’”

There are growing doubts over how successful Paris, Frankfurt and Dublin have been in attracting London financial jobs.

However, Mr de Bresson has been told that banks in London are accelerating plans to move jobs across the Channel amid growing Brexit uncertainty. Paris is aiming to attract or create 10,000 new banking jobs amid the turmoil, he added, with commitments so far of 2,500.

Speaking recently about Brexit, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg told the BBC: “London is always going to be the financial centre of Europe for the foreseeable future.”