Hacker News Reader

Comment by bitL | Hacker News Reader

I don't think this is entirely true. Paris and Amsterdam are fighting for banks as well; in Paris all government-related stuff can be now done in English as well; in Frankfurt for some reason (German pride?) everyone is forced to use German and frankly learning German is highly non-trivial and a time-sink. As for Japanese banks, it makes sense; both because Frankfurt has a significant Japanese minority due to previous business choices and the mentality is similar as well.

View on HN

Macron -being a former Rothschild investment banker- could tremendously help firms and individuals in relocating to Paris.

They just removed entirely the tax on standing capital (only real estate will remain taxed), and more could be following. To me, the government is taking Brexit very seriously and is intent on making the most out of it; including producing new legislation to attract businesses relocating out of London.

Bankers not only have Paris fighting to have them, but the whole government as well.

as long as the EU regulated bits split off into different parts of the EU (Dublin, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam), there's little threat to the long-term future of London's financial sector

however, if they all end up in one place, that would be a significant long-term threat

Got me curious on the German/Japanese mentality being similar, could you elaborate please?

Suppression of emotions, following rules to the letter, indifference/coldness to each other, "Weltschmerz" visible on faces, protestant work ethic (=stick at work doing nothing to show bosses you are working) etc. Other parts of Germany feel slightly different though (Bavarians seem much happier), it might be just Frankfurt.

Japan is sort of the Germany of Asia. Both are very detail-oriented people, well known for craftsmanship, significant amount of global exports, their trains are always on time, etc.

> trains are always on time

If I would not hold the German black belt in suppressing my emotions I would have laughed uncontrollably.

(Though compared to the trains in the U.K...)

That's interesting, just in my experience, Germans are way more likely to speak English than the French, even if they know it. I always thought it was their pride or something heh. Learning either is a daunting task...

Sure, in Frankfurt you can speak English almost with everyone. But never in government offices; all paperwork must be done in German. One headhunter from Frankfurt was recently complaining about it to me, pointing out the fact that Paris made sure bankers can do all paperwork in English whereas Frankfurt doesn't care. And obviously his own well-being depends on attracting people to Frankfurt.

I am French and extremely surprised to hear that the French administration will let you do paperwork in English. Then again, I haven't lived here for some years.

I wouldn't be surprised if some kind of local government agency in Paris was helping expats with paperwork, but the idea that all French civil servants and forms will suddenly start speaking English seems outlandish :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com