JP Morgan UK staff exodus could top 4,000 in any cliff-edge exit from EU
● Barclays boss laments economic effect of UK withdrawal from the single market
Banking chiefs have issued fresh warnings over a “hard” Brexit, with US investment bank JP Morgan admitting it may shift more than 4,000 UK staff abroad in any worst-case divorce from the European Union.
JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon yesterday revived fears of a mass UK staff diaspora as he upped previous estimates for the number who might be forced to relocate – while Barclays boss Jes Staley lamented Brexit’s impact on the UK economy.
Dimon told BBC radio: “If we can’t find reciprocal recognition of rules – and there are a lot of people who are mad with the Brits for leaving and want their pound of flesh – then it could be bad. It could be more than 4,000.” That would be more than one in four of JP Morgan’s near-16,000 head- count in the UK. Dimon had said in the wake of the Brexit vote in 2016 that about 4,000 jobs could leave the UK, but JP Morgan rowed back on that that figure, saying it expected to move between 500 and 1,000 staff to cities including Frankfurt, Dublin and Luxembourg in order to safeguard its EU business.
Dimon was among politicians, business leaders and celebrities at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland this week.
Speaking on the sidelines of the high-profile event, Barclays chief Jes Staley lamented Brexit’s impact on the UK but praised British authorities for their work to date.
“The Bank of England has done quite a good job of navigating thus far post-brexit, but there is a new competitive environment out there and we’ve got Brexit coming up, so the UK has got challenges,” Staley told CNBC.
“It’s gone from the fastest-growing G7 economy to the slowest-growing, but we believe in the UK, and believe in the ultimate prospects of Great Britain.”
Barclays itself is planning to bulk up its Dublin office, which is set to serve as its EU hub and potentially see its local employee base double by 150 staff. Staley was part of a roundtable of financial services executives who met Prime Minister Theresa May and Chancellor Philip Hammond earlier this month to discuss Brexit.
The business leaders emphasised the need for as much certainty as possible, because many foreign banks are expected to start moving key operations and staff to the EU by the end of the first quarter of 2018 if negotiators fail to agree to a Brexit transition period which would allow financial services to conduct business across the bloc beyond 2019.