City of London to launch Brexit campaign

New group aims to give voice to financial workers who want to ditch the EU.

LONDON — The silent minority of City of London workers who favor Brexit is about to get vocal.

“City for Britain,” a new group to be launched on Monday, will promote a viewpoint that has received little attention so far amid big financial firms’ oft-stated desire to remain in the European Union.

The emergence of the coalition, which is backed, among others, by Peter Cruddas, the prominent financier who owns the spread-betting firm CMC Markets, underlines the deep tensions within many sections of the British corporate world ahead of the June 23 referendum.

On Thursday, the City of London Corporation, the local authority for the Square Mile, voted to support EU membership, angering Euroskeptics who felt it should have remained impartial in the debate.

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Although some Square Mile heavyweights, such as the hedge fund manager Crispin Odey and Lloyds Bank Chairman Lord Blackwell, have declared for Brexit, so far the financial sector was assumed to be overwhelmingly in favor of staying within the EU.

Not so, says Alex Deane, a senior executive at FTI Consulting who is one of the leading figures behind City for Britain. “I think our view is a minority, but I don’t think it is a small minority and, in any case, there is no way to find out because no one has polled the City,” he told POLITICO on Friday. “In an environment where people see their CEOs go on a wild pro-European frolic, they probably don’t feel comfortable or free to speak out.”

Deane stressed that he was speaking in a personal capacity and that FTI Consulting’s employees have many different views on the issue. In Brussels, for example, the firm employs Philip Lowe, a veteran European Commission official who was director general of the competition department.

City for Britain has so far gathered few members, and it doesn’t have a huge budget since it operates out of a “room,” Deane said. But he added that he expected his members to contribute to campaigns to spread its message, which is very simple: “Not only will the City be fine in the case of Brexit, but it is exceptionally likely that it would thrive once it’s free of the rules and regulations coming out of Brussels.”

Deane said the European institutions produced regulations that specifically targeted the U.K. financial sectors, such as the financial transaction tax, bonus caps and the Basel III capital requirements rules. He dismissed the idea that Brexit would lead to a severe economic shock, as predicted by banks, the government and, to a lesser extent, the Bank of England.

City for Britain will be affiliated with three other organizations campaigning for Brexit — Grassroots Out, Vote Leave and Leave.eu — and focus on making and rebutting arguments on the economic benefits and risks that would arise from a breakup with the EU.

“In our view, Brussels is operated in the interests of others,” Deane said.