JP Morgan asks several dozen staff to move due to Brexit
Bank may boost presence in existing European branches, including Paris, Madrid, Milan
JP Morgan Chase & Co. laid out more details of employee relocations across Europe related to Brexit, according to an internal memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The bank has asked several dozen employees across business lines to consider relocation as it plans to boost its presence in existing European branches, including Paris, Madrid and Milan, according to the Thursday memo.
JP Morgan has said that 300 to 400 employees may be impacted by Brexit. But this is the first time it has detailed Brexit-related expansions to those cities.
The several dozen employees — in JP Morgan’s corporate and investment bank, asset-andwealth-management unit and corporate functions — have been asked to consider moving before the March 2019 Brexit deadline, according to the memo. The missive was sent by Daniel Pinto, co-president and head of JP Morgan’s corporate and investment bank, and Mary Callahan Erdoes, head of JP Morgan’s assetand-wealth-management unit. Reuters initially reported on the bank’s internal memo.
The several dozen employees, primarily some client-facing and risk-management-related roles, will make moves toward the end of 2018 or early 2019, according to the memo and a person familiar with the matter.
“Before asking other employees to consider relocating, we will wait for further political and regulatory clarity in line with our overall post Brexit strategy,” according to the memo.
“The timing of these further moves is entirely dependent on whether an agreed transition arrangement is finally confirmed.”
The U.K. government is currently negotiating with the European Union over a transition arrangement related to Brexit. If the U.K. doesn’t secure such an arrangement, which would result in an abrupt departure by the U.K., the bank will still be ready for the March 2019 deadline by moving everyone it needs to, the person said.
JP Morgan already has banking licenses in Dublin, Frankfurt and Luxembourg. Those will allow it to do business across the EU.
Mr. Pinto and Ms. Erdoes wrote in the memo that the bank is beginning to communicate with potentially affected clients on how it will do business with them after Brexit. Issues involve things like which legal entity a customer will work with in a bid to avoid disruption before the March 2019 deadline.
The legal entity involved will depend on the type of business a client is doing with the bank, the person familiar with the matter said.
JP Morgan has also started recruiting to add to some “key positions we will need in the long run” across the EU, according to the memo. It’s possible the bank’s EU head count could rise again depending on how negotiations unfold.