A BRITISH exit from the European Union (EU) would gradually sap the world’s financial capital of wealth and power but there would be no stampede of bankers and traders to rival centers, the City of London’s policy chief told Reuters.

    Prime Minister David Cameron, who won an unexpectedly decisive victory in a general election last month, has promised to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the 28-member EU and hold a referendum on membership by the end of 2017.

    Some investors, chief executives and allies have warned that leaving the bloc would be politically and economically costly for Britain, whose economy is the world’s fifth largest.

    Marc Boleat, who is effectively the political leader of the historic financial district’s municipal body, the City of London Corp., said an exit vote would lead to years of “divorce” negotiations during which London risked losing business.

    “Brexit would lead to considerable uncertainty, with a threat if we could not get good exit terms of, over a period of years, the City of London being smaller than it otherwise would have been,” he said in an interview.(SD-Agencies)