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Why are the big banks so keen on British single market membership?
Financiers are worried about their continued ability to control EU markets – they do not have ordinary people’s best interests at heart, writes JOHN FOSTER

LAST week Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein tweeted that it may be necessary for Britain to hold a second referendum on the EU. Too many CEOs, he claimed, “are not happy” with the result. 

What is Goldman Sachs? It is the United States’ biggest investment bank. It is also the EU’s.  

Last year Goldman Sachs handled 33 per cent of all EU mergers and acquisitions. Together with JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, these three US banks handled 80 per cent of all company mergers and acquisitions in the EU. They also dominate most other financial services. They do so from London. 

These banks are now worried about their continued ability to control EU markets from their still partly deregulated base in the City. They want to continue in London. But they want Britain to remain within the EU single market. Hence the pressure being placed on all political parties to modify their position in favour of single market membership.  

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