The French government has pledged to make its tax regime for expatriates the most favourable in Europe, in a grab for London banking business displaced by Britain’s decision to quit the European Union.
“We want to build the financial capital of the future,” the prime minister, Manuel Valls, said at a hastily arranged visit to the annual conference of France’s financial industry lobby, Europlace. “In a word, now is the time to come to France.”
France’s financial sector has often complained of government ambivalence towards the industry, which is subject to high taxes and sometimes hostile remarks from politicians.
But Paris sees an opportunity in last month’s Brexit vote, the regulatory implications of which place a huge question mark over London’s place as the centre of Europe’s banking business.
