‘Business onslaught over Yes vote’

Five Scottish banks have said they would move to England if the Yes vote prevails in next week’s referendum on independence, writes The Financial Times.
Polls showing the 18 September vote was neck-and-neck prompted the The Royal Bank of Scotland to sound warning calls, writes the daily, which estimates Scotland’s banking industry employs more than 35,000 people in Scotland —

The banks believe that they risk being penalised by investors and rating agencies if they keep their domicile in an independent Scotland and lose the support of the Bank of England as their lender of last resort. Inquiries from nervous customers about the consequences of a Yes vote have also increased since the polls narrowed last week.
The daily also says the polls provoked “an outpouring of corporate warnings” about the Yes vote. Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party, denounced a campaign of “scaremongering” whipped up by the office of Prime Minister David Cameron, who the paper notes “has been urging business leaders to speak out against independence for months”.