Expat Financial Advice a Must When Returning to UK

FRIDAY 24 JUNE 2016: The British electorate has given its verdict on the UK’s membership of the European Union in no uncertain terms. In spite of the more emotional appeals to the contrary, this is not a disaster. On this extraordinary day, it is worth remembering that on the 20 February 2016, when David Cameron announced that the EU referendum would take place, the FTSE 100 index was at 5950, the 10 year Gilt yield stood at 1.41% and the sterling/dollar exchange rate was 1.44. At lunchtime on Friday June 24 the FTSE 100 is trading at 6060, the 10 year gilt yield is 1.07% and the dollar exchange rate is 1.37. On the face of these numbers you could be forgiven for not knowing what has taken place in the past 24 hours.

On many occasions, lay investors have a tendency to confuse banking and property revenues as useful gauges of the overall strength of the investment economy. But, however healthy (or unhealthy) these two sectors appear, this should not be allowed to cloud the investment opportunity available to you via your expat financial services manager.

This is why we should not be overly concerned that returns in banking investments currently sit below historical averages – what this potentially marks is simply the residual impact of the 2008 financial crisis and the fact that banking and the wider investment economy have evolved with the advent of new and disruptive players in the finance sector.

For example, a new piece of research by Accenture showed that in 2005 there were 24,000 firms operating in the worldwide banking industry; today this stands at around 15,000. But this alone cannot be seen as a true reflection of the current climate because during the same period we have witnessed the dawn of 600 FinTech firms, 1,900 payment institutions, 700 new banks, and 400 subsidiaries of existing banks – there has also been some consolidation in the area.