London will thrive as a financial centre over the next decade by becoming the natural western hub for emerging market growth, according to one of the City's best-known hedge funds.
In stark contrast to bankers' doom-laden predictions about the City's imminent demise, and defections of hedge funds amid relocations of some staff to Switzerland by prominent funds such as BlueCrest Capital and Brevan Howard, Toscafund is convinced the growth of the Bric nations – Brazil, Russia, India and China – can only work to London's advantage.
“The idea that London is going to be full of tumbleweed in 10 years is not credible,” said Savvas Savouri, chief economist at Tosca. “There are too many aspirational economies that don't have infrastructures of their own. We have an affinity with India, with the Gulf, even with China, via Hong Kong. These markets will want a western hub.”