Margaux Fodéré // Photo credit: MAEVA DESTOMBES / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 4:34 p.m., March 29, 2024

Since Brexit, more and more financial investors see Paris as one of the most attractive places in Europe. The presence of these international players also benefits the French economy: the government therefore wants to strengthen this dynamic.

Paris, Europe's leading financial center. This is one of the direct consequences of Brexit in 2020, and it is confirmed year after year. To further strengthen the attractiveness of France, a bill will be examined by the Finance Committee of the National Assembly on Wednesday April 3. After the tax cuts, the government wants to go further. 

Since 2017, nearly 6,000 jobs have been created in the financial sector in France, some directly repatriated from London. Because several American banks have decided to strengthen their presence in Paris, after Brexit. This is the case of JP Morgan, but also of Goldman Sachs. Its Parisian workforce now reaches nearly 500 people, explains Thierry Sancier, co-head of the Paris office of Goldman Sachs. 

A solid economic ecosystem 

“There was very clearly a before and after Brexit. The fact of having major engineering schools and major business schools close to Paris is an absolutely exceptional breeding ground. We still have also a network of ETIs scattered across the territory. We also have large families who are important pillars of French capitalism, solid banks, technology stars. All these factors make France and Paris a place where the attractiveness is really very, very strong.”

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And this attractiveness benefits the French economy. In 2022, France generated a surplus of more than 10 billion euros in the financial services sector. So to fill a deficit of more than 5% of GDP, the executive wants to capitalize and is considering new measures. The bill which will be examined on Wednesday April 3 in the Assembly is brought by Alexandre Holryod, the deputy for French people living abroad in the United Kingdom and was co-constructed with teams from the Ministry of the Economy. It aims in particular to dematerialize international trade procedures to further strengthen the attractiveness of the Parisian financial center.

New goals 

France has an interest in this: in fact, more international companies in France means more tax revenue, recalls Charles Rodwell, Renaissance MP for Yvelines: "When you establish all these players in Paris, rather than in Milan , Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Madrid or elsewhere, mechanically, these investors pay taxes in Paris. It is always a godsend an organization or a company that sets up in your country because it pays national and local taxes to finance the all public services, the creation of infrastructure, the provision of all services for the entire economy. 

After New York, the Minister of the Economy will go to the Gulf countries in the coming months to attract new financial investors to France.