Banks ready to hit ‘relocate button’

Big international banks are preparing to move some of their operations out of Britain early in 2017 due to the uncertainty over the country’s future relationship with the EU, a top banking official said.

Writing in the Observer newspaper, Anthony Browne, the CE of lobby group the British Bankers’ Association, said the public and political debate was “taking us in the wrong direction” and businesses could not wait until the last minute.

“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,” said Browne.

“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.”

Many of the world’s major banks have their European headquarters in Britain, where the financial sector employs more than 2-million people and makes up almost 12% of the economy.

Banks in London depend on a European “passport” to serve clients across the 28-country EU from one base and lenders worry that this right will end after Brexit.

Browne said while Finance Minister Philip Hammond and Brexit Minister David Davis were “making the right noises”, he was concerned that some highprofile Brexit supporters believed banks did not need passporting and could rely on so-called equivalence, under which the EU can allow access to its markets for countries whose regulations are similar to the bloc’s.