Big banks in the City could shift at least 9,000 roles out of the UK as a result of Brexit, according to a tally of job warnings since the EU referendum.
Deutsche Bank is leading the threatened exodus, according to research by Reuters, while the two financial centres making the most gains from London’s loss are Frankfurt and Dublin.
Last month Deutsche warned that up to 4,000 UK jobs – nearly half its UK workforce – could move to Frankfurt and other EU centres. US bank JP Morgan is preparing to move up to 1,000 bankers out of the City to Dublin, Frankfurt and Luxembourg. Goldman Sachs, despite continuing to build a new headquarters in London, has said it would need more people in Madrid, Milan, Paris and other cities in the EU.
Other banks included in Reuters’ list are HSBC, Morgan Stanley, HSBC and Citigroup. However, many banks are yet to reveal their Brexit plans.
The triggering of article 50 by Theresa May in March sparked a wave of announcements, because only two years are permitted for the Brexit negotiations. A report on Monday called for a transition period for banks and other financial firms, in order to adapt their business models to a departure from the EU.
Commissioned by the lobby group TheCityUK and carried out by legal firm Freshfields, the report said: “There is a general view across impacted businesses that the two-year period for negotiating the UK’s exit arrangement provided for by article 50 will not be long enough either for the UK government ... or for firms to satisfactorily effect any required reorganisation and restructuring.”
The Bank of England has told financial firms to provide it with details of their Brexit plans by 14 July and to be ready for all possible outcomes, including a hard Brexit. Estimates of the impact of Brexit on financial jobs vary, although the highest is for 232,000 across the entire UK.
