According to Fox Capital Partners, credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has joined US President Barack Obama, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and others in the campaign to scare British voters deciding on whether or not the country should leave the European Union.

According to the agency’s Global Ratings division, the country could also lose the benefits of a AAA credit rating. The British Pound was the world’s reserve currency up until the end of the 2nd World War but even though it has been supplanted by the US dollar, it is still the third most widely held currency in global central banks’ holdings behind the euro.

According to the agency’s London-based analyst, Frank Gill, a UK departure from the EU could jeopardize sterling’s reserve status by discouraging foreign direct investment.

Gordon Li-Chao, chief economist at Fox Capital Partners is skeptical. “We think Britain would be best served remaining in the EU but the scale of the scaremongering associated with the so-called “Remain” campaign is astonishing. It’s very redolent of the Scottish devolution vote.”

The British Pound’s reserve status is a legacy of the country’s large economy, its highly-regarded legal system and the world’s de facto lingua franca or common language.

Despite the criticism of scaremongering, the tactic appears to be working with the Remain campaign outstripping the ‘Brexit’ movement in the latest polls.

“The Remain campaign is as much about preserving the cohesion of the EU as it is about what’s in Britain’s best interests. A Brexit would shake the EU to its very core and perhaps, start a chain of events that could see other EU governments being called upon to hold referenda on EU membership,” concluded Li-Chao.
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