How the Footsie is becoming the Russkie

Britain no longer has the clout to sustain the City as one of the world's most important financial centres, says Matthew Lynn. So we should welcome the recent wave of Russian companies to the stock exchange.

It is probably too early to break open the caviar, but at the very least the City's big firms should get some decent vodka on ice. Why? The Russians are riding to the rescue.

Most of the City is dead quiet. There is little sign of any merger and acquisition work. The markets are flat at best. Nervousness over the fate of the euro is preventing most people from investing. But in the last few weeks, there has been a wave of Russian companies arriving on the stock exchange.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.