Scotland Decides to Stay with United Kingdom: Business Reacts

From the Wall Street Journal:

• The result means the U.K. has avoided the chaos that might have occurred as Scotland sought to extricate itself from 307 years of integration. There will be no panic over what Scotland's currency is, no rows over how to divide the debt. The removal of that kind of uncertainty should be good for the U.K. economy and for markets. European leaders too will likely be breathing a sigh of relief as they have avoided having to grapple with the awkward question of Scottish membership of the European Union. See more at Scotland Votes "No" to Independence but U.K. Political Risk Remains – Heard on the Street.
• "There can be no doubt that many businesses will breathe a sigh of relief," said Simon Walker, the director general of the Institute of Directors, a U.K. business group. He added that a thorny debate about Scotland's future currency and protracted negotiations about the shape of the Scottish economy had been avoided, although there were still significant changes on the cards. See more at Business Leaders Relieved After Scotland Vote.

From the London-Based Telegraph:

• If the SNP (Scottish National Party) had lowered the voting age to zero, it might have won. Ok, so this wasn’t about business, but it’s snarky. Read it all, Scottish Independence Referendum: 14 Things We Learnt.
• Investors cheered Scotland’s decision not to splinter the 307-year-old Union, although worries about the transformation of the UK’s political landscape tempered the market’s initial excitement. See Relief Rally As Scots Reject Break-Up But Devo Max Remains A Worry.
• The psephologists will be picking over the whys, wherefores and what-ifs of the Scottish referendum for years to come. But one thing is inarguable: rarely has business played a bigger role in a British political event… and It would, of course, be an overstatement to claim that it was the UK’s business community “wot won it”. But it is hard to imagine that the number, force and timing of the warnings made by a wide variety of executives didn’t convince more than a few undecided voters. From The Executives Who Made It Their Business To Speak Out On Scotland.

From the Financial Times:

• In the short term, the No vote has maintained the status quo and averted the scenarios that investors and economists most feared: a plunge in the pound, capital flight from Scotland and a period of deep uncertainty that could have undermined Britain’s recovery. Economists think some pent-up demand could be released now those risks have abated, particularly in Scotland, where some business investments and house purchases had been put on hold. See Scotland’s No Vote Keeps Uk Economy On Track.

From the New York Times:

• Adrian Grace, the chief executive of the insurer Aegon UK, said he was looking forward to getting back to regular business after the distractions of the referendum. “There’s no doubt that it would have taken a large proportion of our time over the next two or three years, with enormous cost,” he said in an interview Friday morning. See After a Night of Suspense for Business Leaders in Scotland, a Return to Normal.
• “We’ve taken what could have been an enormous amount of uncertainty and weighty issues and traded it for a smaller amount of uncertainty and weighty issues,” said Malcolm Barr, an economist at JPMorgan Chase. See Europe’s Markets Rise, Then Sputter After Scotland Votes No.