The London Stock Exchange has been at the heart of the City since 1801. Pessimists have been predicting its demise since roughly then.
As a location, it has an awful lot going for it that isn’t easy for supposed rivals to replicate. And as our table here today shows, the competition is going to come from Asian markets, not European.
Even in this year of supposed famine for share listing, London raised nearly as much as Amsterdam and Frankfurt combined.
This isn’t to say there aren’t issues. Capital markets are slow, but that’s a global slowdown. Inflation, China and interest rates have been also been on investors’ minds.
And as the ARM deal shows, if every time a UK company gets to a certain size, it has to go abroad, that represents a huge problem for London. If that persists, the answer to the question when will the UK create the next Apple is… never.
The good news is City folk are thinking about all this more seriously than ever.
The LSEG, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Government and City UK have plans, of which the Intermittent Trading Venue — a sort of halfway house between going private and public — is just one.
Critics says this ITV is just evidence of the LSEG thinking it knows best and shoving everyone else around.
Their best bet might be to actively get involved rather than carp from the sidelines.
As for those who say the City will come back — they have always been right before.
