French bankers: come back home

Nicolas Sarkozy, the presidential candidate of the French Right, is urging French expats to return to France. There's little chance of that, according to French finance professionals.

"He can dream," says Jean Facon, a consultant at search firm Christopher Beale Associates and former managing director at JPMorgan. "A lot of the French expats in London work in the City - in terms of financial services, this is where the action is."

London banks are particularly keen on hiring French quants to work on the City's ever-expanding OTC derivatives market. But the Paris-based head of investment banking at one European organisation (who himself spent time working in the City) says there are also advantages to being this side of the Channel if you're in corporate finance.

"The problem with being based in Paris [as an M&A banker] is that you'll be a country banker focused purely on French clients," he tells us. "But if you're working for a large US bank in London, you'll be part of a matrix structure that works across products, sectors and countries - you might cover France as well as Italy and Spain. The remit is a lot broader and it's where the intellectual manpower is."

Taxing environment

The French tax regime constitutes an additional obstacle en route to the repatriation of Gallic finance talent. Like Johnny Hallyday, the French rock singer who recently emigrated to Switzerland, French bankers are averse to seeing most of their pay packets pocketed by the government. Hallyday alleged that 70% of his earnings were going to the state - although this may be reduced by a recent law stipulating that no more than 60% of an individual's entire income should be paid in tax.

"From a tax point of view it's much more advantageous to be in London than Paris," says the Paris-based banker. "The one concrete thing they could do is to make that more competitive."

What would induce French bankers in London to go back to France? Add your suggestions and let us know what you think.