Grazie, Londra: why Milan can thank Brexit for a new lease of life

theguardian.com:

I t wasn’t so long ago that Milan was cast aside as a grey, uninspiring industrial city, with the only sprinkle of colour coming from its fashion sector. But the northern Italian powerhouse now has a newfound energy and confidence – and it’s partly driven by Brexit.

As the consequences of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU have kicked in, a significant number of bankers, fund managers and other financial services workers have shifted from London to Milan – an option that would never have been considered a decade ago.

“Milan never used to be a place of action,” said Silvia Pace, a fund manager at S14 Capital, an asset management firm, who moved to the city last summer after 20 years in London. “For years, the trend here [among financial companies] was to close. Then came Brexit,” she said.

“At the beginning, people didn’t fully understand the consequences. But then it really started to hit, and it became clear that things were getting more complicated, forcing more companies to evaluate the prospect of moving.”

Italian banks, including UniCredit and Mediobanca, led the way in the relocation of staff from London to Milan, and international companies, such as Citigroup and Andera Partners followed suit. Goldman Sachs completed the transfer of some of its euro swaps trading desk to Milan at the beginning of this year.

Italians returning home after carving out the start of their careers overseas make up the majority of those making the shift from London, but joining them are fellow continental Europeans, Britons and other nationalities.

While the pace of relocation picked up after a Brexit deal was reached in late 2020, the Covid pandemic contributed to an acceleration in the trend over the last couple of years.

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