Warning of 10,000 lost jobs on Brexit day one

A BANK of England official has said Britain’s powerhouse financial services sector could shed 10,000 jobs on day one of Brexit and it was “plausible” the losses may reach 75,000.

Sam Woods, head of the Bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), said the 10,000 figure was based on Brexit contingency plans submitted to the Bank by financial firms, which are assuming no replacement of passporting rights and no transition period beyond the end of March 2019.

While he made clear the 75,000 jobs number did not come from the Bank but consultants Oliver Wyman, he said it was a credible prediction of how Britain’s EU divorce may impact the finance sector.

Speaking to the House of Lords EU financial affairs sub-committee about the 75,000 jobs esti- mate, he said: “Now that’s not a Bank of England number and we haven’t specifically endorsed that report.

“However, I would say that in terms of a longterm possibility among one of many scenarios, I regard that within the plausible range of scenarios.”

Mr Woods said he would be “surprised” if more than 10,000 jobs left the finance sector, but admitted the number was a “moving feast”.

“Looking across all the plans we have had from banks and insurance companies.

“You could reasonably think of the day one movement of perhaps around 10,000,” he added.

“I would be surprised if it ends up being more than that for banks and insurance companies.

“To put that in context, that is less than 1% of financial services jobs.”