Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein says the British economy is doing better than expected (Getty)

The chief executive of Goldman Sachs has said he’s been surprised by the performance of the UK economy since the Brexit vote.

Lloyd Blankfein told an event in Brussels that his assumptions about the negative short-term effects of the decision had been proved “wrong.”

He said: “Cassandra hasn’t been proved right. Some people would say ‘hasn’t been proved right yet’.

“But I would say I’m at least wrong in the fact that I would have thought there would have been a worse outcome by now.”

Brexit supporters pounced upon the comments by Mr Blankfein, whose organisation gave £500,000 to the official remain campaign in the EU referendum

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg told the Sun: “It is a historic day when Lloyd Blankfein eats humble pie.”

Mr Blankfein backed calls for a second referendum in November, saying: “So much at stake, why not make sure consensus still there?”

Here in UK, lots of hand-wringing from CEOs over #Brexit. Better sense of the tough and risky road ahead. Reluctant to say, but many wish for a confirming vote on a decision so monumental and irreversible. So much at stake, why not make sure consensus still there? — Lloyd Blankfein (@lloydblankfein) November 16, 2017





Speaking to Politico EU today though, he said people who voted remain “feel more reconciled to the fact that it’s going to happen and are in the mode of adjusting to it as opposed to mourning the current situation or trying to reverse it.”

He also gave a boost to the City by confirming Goldman Sachs is going to keep its European headquarters in London.

However, he said Goldman Sachs may not have taken the decision to construct their new £300 million base if they had known about Brexit.

“We’re going to keep that building, there’s a lot of reasons to have it and it works out economically,” he said. “The math works out.

“But that’s not the same thing as saying that if we knew four years ago, when we made the decision to go ahead, that we would have had this outcome.

“We probably would have delayed that decision, maybe we wouldn’t have made the same decision at all.”

And he warned companies making such decisions now could opt out of the UK because of Brexit – leading to a delayed hit on the economy.

He said: “I would say that as of now the effect hasn’t been dramatic. But decisions are being made today which take account of Brexit which may result in less economic activity three years from now.”

While Goldman Sachs is keeping its European headquarters in London, he said the group would also be investing in Frankfurt and Paris.

“Brexit will require more distribution of ourselves into more places than we otherwise would have,” he said.



