Brexit impact on financial services in UK still unclear

A top Treasury official has said the total number of Brexit-related banking job moves is currently unknown.

Katharine Braddick said the impact on jobs has so far been minimal across the financial services industry, and played down suggestions that all banks had already made decisions to shift staff away from London to Germany’s financial hub.

“What we see in the UK is an initial set of moves which are to do with essentially hedging the immediate risks to ensure that clients and boards can be assured that services continue in a way that is not only undisrupted, but completely sound from a regulatory and legal standpoint,” Ms Braddick said.

However, the Treasury’s director general of financial services said most firms expect there to be a second wave of job moves – but said the total figures were unknown.

“Depending on the relationship that we achieve with the EU – and of course our aspiration is a close relationship on financial services – that will determine the scale of that second phase and to me that’s unknown,” Ms Braddick continued.

It raises questions about the composition of the financial services industry post-Brexit.

Without a deal, businesses are expected to shift EU-focused operations and key staff to rival financial hubs including Dublin, Paris, Frankfurt and Luxembourg.