Morgan Stanley Frankfurt move means UK job losses
US banking giant Morgan Stanley has chosen Frankfurt as the site of its post-Brexit EU hub in a move that could see 200 jobs leave the UK, it can be revealed.
The bank will be applying for a licence with the local German regulator that will allow it to continue trading across the EU after the UK completes its di- vorce from the bloc. Around 200 UK jobs could be relocated as a result of the decision, impacting staff in both front and back office operations.
The move is expected to double the workforce at the Frankfurt office, which currently houses 200 staff, though the bank may also bulk up additional offices in Paris and Dublin as part of its post-Brexit strategy.
However, sources have indicated that London will remain Morgan Stanley’s European headquarters.
Morgan Stanley declined to comment. It is another vote of confidence for Frankfurt, which has drawn commitments from a number of international banks including Standard Chartered and Japanese bank Daiwa since the referendum last year.
Citigroup is also expected to confirm later this week that it will be moving 200 jobs from the UK to its Frankfurt office, which will become a broker-dealer entity to serve its EU clients.
EY’s Brexit Tracker, released the first week of July, showed that 18 financial services firms had mentioned Frankfurt or Germany in their contingency plans.
The news comes as Morgan Stanley reported better-than-expected second quarter results, which showed that its trading desks managed to outperform its Wall Street rivals.
While Morgan Stanley still felt a decline in trading revenues, those figures felt a shallower decline than competitors including Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, which reported their own earnings earlier this week. Earnings reached $1.76bn in the three months to June 30.