. . . a grass-grown City?
A RECURRENT argument for the cur- rency bloc is founded on fear. We are told that if sterling is left out, all the money and capital markets will move into the new bloc, and grass will grow in the streets of the City. I wonder. The Bank of England used to think that the use of sterling brought business to London, so markets using other currencies were to be discour- aged. Then, in the 1960s, the Bank turned right round, encouraging dollar markets, and keeping the domestic sterling markets insulated from them. It was the markets and their services, not the currency, that brought the business to London. From that recognition came London's dominance in the international markets for money and capital, then springing up. Even today, Zurich and Geneva are financial centres which depend on their skills, not their currency. I am aware of no plans to defend their position by forcing the Swiss franc into the European Monetary System.
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