As financial markets professionals mull over the 50% tax rate the UK government is to introduce next year to those who earn in excess of £150,000 ($220,000), the overwhelming view of those bankers who can quit the country seems to be: 'I'm off'.

One banker told Here Is The City: 'The Institute of Fiscal Studies has already told these idiots that raising tax in this way will result in less revenue, not more. They just don't get that market professionals have portable careers. People and firms do not need to be in the UK to ply their trade. What with the further raid on pensions and national insurance, we now have a lousy tax regime to go with the lousy weather and the lousy state of public services. The only reason to stay is the Premier League,' he continued, 'Although, as Wenger has said, all the best players will soon be off to Spain and Italy - where they will pay significantly less tax! London will soon be a place when only crappy football players and modestly-paid back office professionals work'.

Financial News reports that, two months after being asked by a UK Treasury Committee for details on how many staff earned more than £100,000 last year, Royal Bank of Scotland has failed to provide the information.

In the meantime, The Financial Times reports that Jerker Johansson, the CEO of UBS Investment Bank, is stepping down after a little over a year in office. The unit will now be led by co-heads Carsten Kengeter (global head of FICC) and Alex Wilmot-Sitwell (co-head of investment banking).

And French Bank Societe Generale has denied a report in Liberation newspaper which claims that it may post a loss of up to $13bn, after losses over at its asset management division. The bank has put the report down to a misunderstanding on the part of the journalist.

Finally, sad to report the death of 44-year-old Gilles Glicenstein, the well-regarded head of BNP Paribas's asset management arm. Although the cause of his death has not been revealed, he is known to have been treated for cancer.

Reader Comment

'I've been out of the City for years, with stints in HK and NY. And I miss the UK less and less. Why would I ever want to come back now ?'.

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