Three months on: anonymous banking grad reveals City frenzy during Brexit
‘My boss woke me up at 5am and told me to get my ass in a cab’
HeadhunterWhen the referendum result was announced, everyone lost their heads – nowhere more than in the City. The pound fell to its lowest value in thirty years, big name firms like Morgan Stanley announced they might move abroad, and bankers wept uncontrollably in the street.
To get an insider account of the mayhem on June 24th, we spoke to a banking grad about his experiences of the chaos in the City during Brexit. He described the dramatic turmoil and how it’s changed what it’s like to work in finance as a grad.
In order to protect his identity (and let’s face it, his job), he’s chosen to remain anonymous.
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The build-up before the referendum
So the consensus was that Brexit wouldn’t happen. Everyone in the City thought that despite what the polls were saying about Leave being ahead, people would vote with their wallets – once they were in the polling booth they would panic about the mortgage, like in the general election in 2015, and vote Remain.
Actually, there was a big rally in the week before the referendum because clients and investors thought it was inconceivable that we might vote to leave.
The night before the result
Our office was a bit tense, but we were convinced we knew what the result would be. When we were leaving work, we were taking the piss out of each other speculating how early we’d have to come in the next morning to deal with chaos from a Leave result. But really, we were sure that everything was priced perfectly for a Remain result, so we wouldn’t need to come in more than half an hour before our usual start time. We had a few beers and went home at about 10pm.
It was almost a relief knowing we were one sleep away from an end to the uncertainty.
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The morning after
A call from my boss woke me up at 5am. He said we had voted for Brexit, and that I needed to get my ass into a cab and come in straight away. I got in just before 6.
The weird thing was, when I got into the office, there wasn’t a load of shouting or panic – everyone was just sad. My boss kept despairing, and made it very clear to us that we couldn’t be more fucked.
Nobody in the office had voted to leave, so none of us could understand the result.
I’d never seen these guys so deflated. We traded bits and pieces that day but not much was going on.
The atmosphere in the City now
Clients basically have been doing much less biz. Nobody wants to tie up long-term deals – because how can you take a long-term view when you don’t have a three month view? There’s no certainty.
There are rumours about some banks moving to Frankfurt and Dublin, and that’s the worst case doomsday scenario. If one of them moves abroad, then a load more will. So if the bank I work for decided to relocate, I suppose I could apply to work at another bank in London, but then they might move abroad as well.
The financial passport depends on access to the single market. Brexit will mean losing that financial passport and the ability to easily do business in Europe from London. That’s why banks could easily move abroad to Frankfurt or somewhere else – the cost of teaching your staff to speak German is nothing compared to the cost of conforming to new regulations.
Why Brexit hasn’t changed how fun banking really is
The day to day hasn’t really changed since the referendum result.
It’s exciting having real responsibility. It’s as pressured as you’d imagine. You know, all those things that the job prospectuses say – ‘a fast-paced, challenging work environment’ and so on. It’s a real bull pen.
What’s so exciting in banking is that you seem to get involved with big stuff early on wherever you work. There’s an adrenaline rush on the trading floor – after 6 months you’re trading straight away. You’re taking risk and holding real, personal responsibility for a lot of money and outcomes. That’s a huge boost to your confidence.
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