Yes, danger lurks

I thoroughly applaud Bill Jamieson for his article (4 September) warning about the severe dangers for Scotland’s 
financial services sector from a Yes vote.

The essential point to understand is that 90 per cent of the industry’s customers live in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, people buying pensions and insurance products, savings plans and ISAs, taking out mortgages, receiving financial advice. Our Scottish financial companies benefit from using the same currency and having the same regulator as their counterparts in, say, London, Bristol or Leeds. The dangers from independence are stark – people rarely invest or save or buy financial products in a foreign country, one where regulation or protection is different, even more so if there is a different currency.

This sector is of vital importance to the Scottish economy: it employs about 200,000 people directly and indirectly, close to 1 in 12 of all Scottish workers. A Yes vote is a direct threat to their jobs.

Phil Wheeler

Templeland Road

Edinburgh