4 ms·

> “never gave any indication that the U.K. leaving the EU would make trading difficult for them.” duh. it should not be something you have to say. the opposite

by ptah 7y ago

> “never gave any indication that the U.K. leaving the EU would make trading difficult for them.” duh. it should not be something you have to say. the opposite would be surprising and would be worth stating. my point is the default for banks is that brexit will affect their licence to operate in the UK

Semaphor 7y ago
Yeah, every contact I have with UK institutions had been sending me letters for well over a year now about their brexit plans. OTOH, N26 (which is also my bank) really should have notified customers about their plans way earlier.
- mytailorisrich 7y ago
  Last year their plan was to expand in the UK. Their plan was to stay and ride out Brexit (a bank licence is not that big a deal and the government is helping). But since then they've launched in the US and investment money does not grow on tree. They've probably concluded that it was game over for them in the UK unless they launched a major investment push but they obviously decided to push in the US instead.
- ptah 7y ago
  customers should have been wary that N26 did not have a brexit plan
  - mytailorisrich 7y ago
    They launched in the UK after the EU referendum... It's not like Brexit meant that they suddenly had to rethink their strategy, is it? No, they are faring poorly in a very competitive, crowded market and have simply decided to focus on the US.
    - ptah 7y ago
      the nature of the withdrawal agreement was not clear until brexit actually happened
  - kmlx 7y ago
    they had a plan: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EQgcNPyXUAcsVrK?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EQgcNPyXUAcsVrK?format=jpg&name=...
- rusk 7y ago
  To be honest, I think it would have been hard a year ago to predict quite the turn that things have taken. The term "volatile" as a description of current UK/European relations is something of an understatement. Everybody understands that "Crazy Boris" is a negotiating strategy, and one that might even work, but it's purpose is to be disruptive to European trade, and disadvantage non pan-European operators across the board.
  - thu2111 7y ago
    Boris isn't crazy. He has been sent clear instructions by his electorate that "because the EU says we must" is no longer a valid justification for the government to present. As such he wants to negotiate a close and friendly relationship that nonetheless allows divergence from the Commission's decisions when the UK government feels it represents a good cost/benefit tradeoff. This is really as far from crazy as you can get - it's just saying different people have different opinions and priorities, so the government should reflect that. The fact that this stance has been consistently painted by Europhiles as "crazy", "impossible", "racism" etc is one reason the UK is leaving. The variety of ways in which this simple desire for local government gets insulted and traduced indicates a severe problem with the EU and its associated belief systems.
    - rusk 7y ago
      I didn’t say he was crazy ... dangerous maybe, but far from crazy. I’d urge you to read again but I seriously doubt you’d catch the nuance. These things don’t translate well into Russian.
      - dang 7y ago
        Please don't post in the flamewar style to HN. We've had to ask you this more than once before. Especially please keep personal and/or nationalistic slurs well away from here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
      - thu2111 7y ago
        Honestly, I'm not sure such an offensive and stupid reply merits a response. You called him "Crazy Boris" in your post whilst implying he doesn't actually mean anything he says, so now it's "I didn't say he was crazy". You also changed your insult of choice to "dangerous". Then you imply that because I - like most voting Brits - don't think the Prime Minister is crazy OR dangerous, I must be Russian! Thus managing to insult me, most British people, Boris Johnson and Russian people all at once. Your toxicity is exactly why Trump won, why Brexit won, and why causes like that will continue to win - people like you are the worst advert for your views imaginable. Please keep this sort of nastiness towards your neighbours off HN.

by ptah 7y ago

Semaphor 7y ago

Yeah, every contact I have with UK institutions had been sending me letters for well over a year now about their brexit plans. OTOH, N26 (which is also my bank) really should have notified customers about their plans way earlier.

mytailorisrich 7y ago
Last year their plan was to expand in the UK. Their plan was to stay and ride out Brexit (a bank licence is not that big a deal and the government is helping). But since then they've launched in the US and investment money does not grow on tree. They've probably concluded that it was game over for them in the UK unless they launched a major investment push but they obviously decided to push in the US instead.
ptah 7y ago
customers should have been wary that N26 did not have a brexit plan
- mytailorisrich 7y ago
  They launched in the UK after the EU referendum... It's not like Brexit meant that they suddenly had to rethink their strategy, is it? No, they are faring poorly in a very competitive, crowded market and have simply decided to focus on the US.
  - ptah 7y ago
    the nature of the withdrawal agreement was not clear until brexit actually happened
- kmlx 7y ago
  they had a plan: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EQgcNPyXUAcsVrK?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EQgcNPyXUAcsVrK?format=jpg&name=...
rusk 7y ago
To be honest, I think it would have been hard a year ago to predict quite the turn that things have taken. The term "volatile" as a description of current UK/European relations is something of an understatement. Everybody understands that "Crazy Boris" is a negotiating strategy, and one that might even work, but it's purpose is to be disruptive to European trade, and disadvantage non pan-European operators across the board.
- thu2111 7y ago
  Boris isn't crazy. He has been sent clear instructions by his electorate that "because the EU says we must" is no longer a valid justification for the government to present. As such he wants to negotiate a close and friendly relationship that nonetheless allows divergence from the Commission's decisions when the UK government feels it represents a good cost/benefit tradeoff. This is really as far from crazy as you can get - it's just saying different people have different opinions and priorities, so the government should reflect that. The fact that this stance has been consistently painted by Europhiles as "crazy", "impossible", "racism" etc is one reason the UK is leaving. The variety of ways in which this simple desire for local government gets insulted and traduced indicates a severe problem with the EU and its associated belief systems.
  - rusk 7y ago
    I didn’t say he was crazy ... dangerous maybe, but far from crazy. I’d urge you to read again but I seriously doubt you’d catch the nuance. These things don’t translate well into Russian.
    - dang 7y ago
      Please don't post in the flamewar style to HN. We've had to ask you this more than once before. Especially please keep personal and/or nationalistic slurs well away from here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - thu2111 7y ago
      Honestly, I'm not sure such an offensive and stupid reply merits a response. You called him "Crazy Boris" in your post whilst implying he doesn't actually mean anything he says, so now it's "I didn't say he was crazy". You also changed your insult of choice to "dangerous". Then you imply that because I - like most voting Brits - don't think the Prime Minister is crazy OR dangerous, I must be Russian! Thus managing to insult me, most British people, Boris Johnson and Russian people all at once. Your toxicity is exactly why Trump won, why Brexit won, and why causes like that will continue to win - people like you are the worst advert for your views imaginable. Please keep this sort of nastiness towards your neighbours off HN.