Brexit: Top banks prepare to leave London
London’s continuing status as the capital of global finance is in doubt with Britain’s biggest banks preparing to relocate outside the country by early 2017 as Brexit-related discourse suggests that banks and other FIs will not able to retain EU-wide access.
Anthony Browne, chief executive of the British Bankers Association, raised the ante on Sunday by claiming in The Observer that the biggest banks were preparing to leave in the first few months of 2017, while smaller banks were planning to leave before Christmas.
“Most international banks now have project teams working out which operations they need to move to ensure they can continue serving customers, the date by which this must happen, and how best to do it”.
“Their hands are quivering over the relocate button. Many smaller banks plan to start relocations before Christmas; bigger banks are expected to start in the first quarter of next year,” Browne wrote.
Prime Minister Theresa May has announced that the formal process of leaving the EU will begin by the end of March 2017. There are already divisions within her cabinet about the extent of links Britain can or should maintain with the EU after leaving the union.
The key issue is Britain’s access to the European Single Market. The access comes with the obligation to allow freedom of movement to EU citizens to move, work and settle in Britain.