Daily Junction.mobi portalBrexit has raised questions about the City's future. London's dominance was built on access to European markets, and Brexit has led to some financial business moving to Frankfurt, Paris, and Amsterdam. But London retains advantages — English law, time zone, deep capital markets — that are hard to replicate. The City has survived the Big Bang, the 2008 crisis, and Brexit. Whether it can survive the next crisis remains to be seen.
The Big Bang on 27 October 1986 was the most radical deregulation in the history of the London Stock Exchange. Fixed commissions were abolished, the separation between brokers and jobbers ended, and electronic trading replaced face-to-face dealing. Foreign banks flooded into the City, buying up British firms and transforming the culture. The reforms made London Europe's dominant financial centre, created vast wealth, and contributed over 10% of GDP. But the Big Bang also encouraged risk-taking, leverage, and light-touch regulation that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis. The legacy remains contested: a Thatcherite success story or a cautionary tale of deregulation gone wrong. Either way, the Big Bang transformed Britain's economy and society, and its impact is still felt today.