All the talk was of Frankfurt or Paris luring London’s financial business as Britain peeled away from the EU. Yet it is Amsterdam that is proving the most visible early winner. Data last week showed the Dutch capital had displaced London as Europe’s biggest share trading centre in January, grabbing a fifth of the 40 billion euros-a-day action, up from below a tenth of trading pre-Brexit. Yet that is just one of several areas the city has quietly stolen a march on its rivals as it attracts businesses from Britain, evoking memories of its history as a global trading powerhouse in the 17th century. Amsterdam has also overtaken London to become Europe’s number one corporate listing venue so far this year, data shows, and the leader in euro-denominated interest-rate swaps, a market estimated to be worth about $135 trillion in 2020. “There is a whole culture of trading, and to be close to that was very positive,” said Robert Barnes, CEO of London Stock Exchange-owned share trading platform Turquoise, which has selected the Dutch capital over Paris for its post-Brexit hub. “You have some of the big institutional banks, you have specialist trading firms, a dynamic retail community. But it’s also in the heart of continental Europe.” Cboe Europe, an equities exchange, told Reuters it was launching an equities derivatives venture in Amsterdam in the coming weeks to emulate the trading model built in its Chicago home. Asked why Cboe chose Amsterdam over rivals, Howson said the Netherlands was where he saw “substantive growth” for his industry in Europe. He also cited the wide use of English in the city and Dutch regulation being friendly to global investors, in contrast to some European countries’ preference for championing domestically-focused firms. “You need core Europe to be competitive on a global scale,” said Howson. “A more insular Europe or too much national interest makes that a difficult thing.” Yet while the arrival of such businesses may bring higher tax revenues from trading volumes and private investment in infrastructure, the city is not experiencing a jobs boom, as many companies relocating there tend to be highly specialised, and smaller employers. Turquoise’s new Amsterdam operation, for instance, sits in the former head office of the Dutch East India Company, the trading megacorporation that fuelled Amsterdam’s rise to its former finance fame – yet it only employs four staff. The Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency, which has led the effort to woo Brexit business, told Reuters it estimated about 1,000 new jobs had been created by financial firms moving operations to Amsterdam since Britain left the EU. That’s a fraction of the 7,500 to 10,000 jobs estimated to have left London for the EU since 2016, when Britain voted the leave the bloc, and a drop in the ocean compared with the British capital’s financial workforce, which numbers over half a million. Many investment banks with their large staffs have looked elsewhere on the continent, deterred in part by Dutch laws that limit banker bonuses. HOW IT’S GETTING AHEAD Amsterdam leads the European listings table this year, having attracted $3.4 billion-worth of initial public offerings (IPOs), Refinitiv data shows. That included Poland’s InPost, which raised 2.8 billion euros in the biggest European IPO in 2021 so far. Spanish fintech form Allfunds, Dutch web startup WeTransfer and two “blank-cheque” firms – one backed by ex-Commerzbank chief executive Martin Blessing and another by French tycoon Bernard Arnault – are planning to list on Euronext Amsterdam. At least three technology companies from Central and East European are also considering listings as Brexit dents London’s allure, bankers told Reuters. Banking sources working on the two blank-cheque, or special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), said Dutch regulations were closest to rules in the United States, making it easier to appeal globally. In the euro-denominated interest rate swaps market, platforms in Amsterdam and New York have grabbed the bulk of business lost by London, whose share fell from just under 40% in July to just over 10% in January, IHS Markit data shows. That made the Dutch capital the biggest player, an advance from last July when platforms in the city commanded just 10% of the market. Amsterdam will also become home to the European carbon emissions trading, worth a billion euros a day in trading volumes, when the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) moves the market from London later this year.