Has London Fallen? The Search for the Next European Financial Capital Is On

New York Times' columnist Jim Stewart on a possible alternative to London for the next European financial capital.
By Giovanni Bruno ,

NEW YORK (TheStreet) --New York Times columnist and CNBC contributor Jim Stewart joined CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" to discuss a possible replacement to London as the European financial capital on Friday.

Stewart explained that he ran several tests, with specific criteria, to accumulate a total score of which cities would be seen as a suitable and sustainable replacement to London for the European financial capital.

As part of these tests Stewart looked at where European companies are moving their employees, a critical mass population, energy levels, as well as a city that would be willing to take in a large population from London, saying this last criterion is much more complicated than it sounds. "These people make a lot of money. They work long hours. They're high energy. They're not the most popular people in the world."

Further criteria for his test included the number of English speakers a country boasts, as well as access to good English-speaking schools. Stewart noted that despite the Brexit, "English remains the financial language of the world." Adding "Spain only boasts 22% of English speakers, whereas the Netherlands has 90%."

Stewart went onto to explain that despite his test, these decisions will be made by U.S. and other global institutions that have primarily used London. However, speaking to the fact that in light of the Brexit many foreigners, especially those form the EU, may choose to leave London and thus diminish its cultural diversity. "London may no longer be the hotpot it was fifteen years ago," Stewart said. 

Bringing Stewart to his final point, the all-important winner of his test, which he revealed was Amsterdam, while also offering up Warsaw as a solid candidate, "Poland is very up and coming. Hard working. Good regulatory climate. It scored pretty highly."

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