Soft Brexit ‘may mean fewer job losses’

HSBC could keep more jobs in Britain depending on whether the government pursues a hard or soft Brexit, its UK chief executive has said.

Ian Stuart’s comments signalled that a more accommodative approach from Prime Minister Theresa May on Brexit could result in a smaller City exodus after the UK leaves the EU.

HSBC, which currently has 43,000 employees in the UK, revealed in January that it was planning to move “activities covered specifically by European financial regulation” to the EU, resulting in about 1,000 jobs being shifted to the Continent.

“Depending on a hard or soft Brexit, that number might be slightly less than that, so it’s going to be updated all the time,” Mr Stuart said.

“We’re still in uncharted waters today and we don’t know exactly how it’s going to look, so we’ve got to plan ahead.” A number of banks announced similar contingency plans after Mrs May confirmed that Britain would ditch the single market.

This would subsequently see City firms lose passporting rights that provide wide-ranging EU access for Uk-based financial services.