Brexit
Brexit, then and now
One of the challenges of understanding the consequences of Brexit is the apparent lack of precedent for such an event. But this pre-supposes that only the recent past is relevant. If instead we use the full sweep of history, then we can find the obvious precedent of the English Reformation that started in 1534. … the “Brexit” of 1534 was far from straightforward, and nor did it stop conflict within the country. As for the economic consequences, GDP per capita barely changed for one hundred years after before falling sharply during the Civil War. It took colonial expansion, notably to India, and later in the industrial revolution in the 1700s for growth to really pick up in England. – That’s from Nomura’s Bilal Hafeez, with a bonus chart too.
We read tons of hedge fund letters so you didn’t have to – here’s what they said about Brexit
Brexit was one of the biggest events of 2016, and has naturally triggered a fair bit of contemplation in the hedge fund industry, where money managers are now pondering the short and long term implications. Here is a selection of some of the Brexit points made in the second-quarter letters sent to investors by a batch of hedge funds. Most were sent out in July, but many of their thoughts remain very current.
Brexit, the Target2 angle
Everybody knows much of the City of London was vehemently opposed to Brexit because of fears of what might happen to banks’ interests if so-called “passporting” rights into and out of the European system were lost. What is less talked about, however, is Brexit’s impact on the European payments clearing system, Target2 — and how the passporting issue connects by way of Target2 to the realm of sovereign monetary policy. At the absolute heart of the matter is the status and treatment of payment systems worldwide, and whether or not they can really be treated as something independent and thus distinct from national monetary policy (and hence open to commercial competition) — or as integral to sovereign interests.
