A Dutch law capping financial sector bonuses at 20% of salary is keeping firms from locating staff in the Netherlands, a study on Brexit’s impact on European financial markets on Friday said.
Think-tank Amsterdam Capital estimated that in the wake of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union some 43% of British financial services firms had moved some operations to the EU, representing 7,600 jobs.
While Amsterdam has been a Brexit beneficiary, eclipsing London in terms of stock trading volume, and third so far this year behind London and Frankfurt in terms of equity listings, the Dutch capital has only gained about 1,000 jobs.
The study said that was in part due to the bonus cap, which is not aligned with a European law capping bonuses at 100%.
“Frankfurt, Dublin and Paris are the main beneficiaries in banking and asset management,” the study said, adding that administrative outsourcing has moved to Poland, Hungary and the Baltics as a result of Brexit.
Amsterdam’s failure to win asset management businesses was remarkable, the study said, given that the Dutch pension industry, with giant funds such as ABP and PGGM, is one of the biggest customers.
Photo: People at Binnenhof, The Hague. EC Audiovisual service
