Rathbone Investment Management surveyed over 1,000 UK savers and 500 HNW individuals (those with over £100,000 ($132,000) in savings or assets).

A new report has found that more than a third (36 per cent) of UK-based high-net-worth investors feel more optimistic about the effect that Brexit will have on their wealth than they did this time last year.

Rathbone Investment Management surveyed over 1,000 UK savers and 500 HNW individuals (those with over £100,000 ($132,000) in savings or assets) to discuss what their feelings were about the current investment outlook in the UK, including their thoughts on Britain's exit from the EU.

When asked about the key threats to their wealth, just 23 per cent of HNW investors said that Brexit would be a threat, compared with 30 per cent of HNW investors who were asked the same question in 2017. 

HNW investors instead highlighted issues such as economic uncertainty (36 per cent), low interest rates (37 per cent) and inflation (34 per cent) to be their biggest concerns. 

“Investors have been aware of the spectre of Brexit now for close to two years and have therefore have had the chance to make plans to make sure that their finances aren’t badly affected,” said Robert Szechenyi, investment director at Rathbones. “For those investors that have not yet put plans in place to protect their portfolio – irrespective of its size – it’s important that they start thinking about doing so now. Taking simple measures such as making sure that their portfolio is diversified across both asset classes and markets is a good step in mitigating any risk from economic uncertainty. Other economic concerns such as high inflation and low interest rates, although harder to plan for the long term, can also be provisioned against.”

The financial sector has had a mixed reaction to Brexit. Paris-based Comgest, the independent asset manager, opened its first UK representative office in London, last month, but LGIM, on the other hand, has recently moved its European headquarters to Dublin, as reported by this publication. While Brexit will undoubtedly rattle the UK’s financial services sector, a recent survey showed that the number of finance jobs to be shifted out of the country by the March 2019 Brexit deadline has dropped by half, compared with earlier forecasts, to 5,000 roles.

Another study showed that after a period of decline, sentiment in the UK financial services sector has steadied. Optimism in the financial services sector stabilised in the second quarter of 2018, following sharp falls over the previous two quarters, according to the latest quarterly financial services survey from the Confederation of British Industry and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The quarterly survey of 100 firms found that optimism about the overall business situation in the financial services sector showed no improvement, having fallen in all but one quarter since the beginning of 2016. Sentiment was unchanged in banking, building societies and investment management, but improved in finance houses and general insurance.