Ongoing Brexit stalemate is weighing heavily on investors' mind, according to the founder of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisations.
deVere Group, founded by remain-backing businessman Nigel Green, says more than a fifth or 21% of its clients have sought advice on moving UK assets out of Britain since the Brexit vote in 2016.
deVere has more than 80,000 clients across 100 countries worldwide. Cross-party talks to resolve the Brexit stalemate between Prime Minister Theresa May’s government and the opposition Labour party are expected to conclude by 8 May.
Green noted: “The pace of this trend picked up over the first quarter of 2019 as the Brexit chaos fell into a national crisis for the UK.”
The level of uncertainty caused by Brexit has prompted many clients to seek established, legitimate overseas opportunities in other highly regulated jurisdictions in order to grow, build – and importantly – safeguard their wealth, he added.
“For many, it is the sheer depth of the uncertainty that astonishingly still remains, that is alarming. They tell us that despite it seemingly likely that Britain is moving in the direction of a soft Brexit, many uncertainties hang heavy over the spiralling situation.”
All future scenarios remain tricky. It is unlikely the government will agree to Labour’s alternative plan and Labour MPs will not vote for a deal without a public vote, putting talks in jeopardy.
Meanwhile, parliament has asserted itself that the UK must not leave with no withdrawal agreement in place, which is something the EU is also keen to avoid.
“Also, it’s unlikely that there will be a general election as Conservatives will not vote for one. And, it is still unclear when Prime Minister Theresa May is going to leave office and, crucially, who will succeed her. Will it be a Brexiter like Boris Johnson who would then shift towards a harder Brexit?”
The deVere CEO concluded: “UK and international investors in UK assets are responding to the uncertainties posed by Brexit by considering removing their wealth from the UK. It could be argued that many UK investors should be doing this anyway. There is a strong ‘home bias’ approach which tends to distort investors’ asset allocation, and that leads to a lack of geographical diversification.”
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