Wall Street reforms might help to make Asian financial centres more attractive to US traders, according to our web poll last week. The new bill passed the House of Representatives last week and is expected to pass the Senate next week.
With much tighter restrictions on risk-taking if the rules come into effect, some market participants are predicting that a chunk of trading could move offshore. London would likely have benefited from that migration in the past, but these days regulators in the EU are planning their own crackdown in the wake of ballooning public debt -- and, in London itself, traders are also facing punitive taxes on over-sized bonuses.
Switzerland, which is not in any danger of becoming an EU member state, might therefore benefit instead, but not according to our readers. Given the choice of London (or other EU locations), Switzerland or Asia, most said that traders would move to Asia.
Of all the votes though, the most popular answer was Other, which perhaps reflects voters' doubts that America's financial makeover will indeed push traders overseas.
In total, 50% voted Other, 39% chose Asia, 6% Switzerland and 5% London.
Photo by AFP.
