Germany may ease up to woo Brexit banks

Merkel-backed reform would make it easier to hire and fire bankers in exception to strict labour laws

Germany could make it easier to hire and fire senior bankers in what would be a rare exception to its strict labour rules, an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel said, as Frankfurt seeks to attract finance groups from London after Brexit.

The move, which would apply to those earning more than around €250,000 (Dh1.02 million; $278,000), is intended as a sweetener for global banks who want to move staff to the continent after Brexit but are worried about laws making it hard to sack them.

German protection

“We do not need the German protection against redundancy for top earners in banking,” Volker Bouffier, vice chairman of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) told Reuters in an interview.

“I see a political prospect of changing this law by the middle of next year or in the Autumn (of 2018), once the new government is in place.” Germany is holding national elections in September, with Merkel’s conservative expected to emerge as strongest party group.

“I have discussed this with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and she is supportive, as is the finance ministry,” said Bouffier, who is also premier of the state of Hesse, home to the country’s financial centre, Frankfurt.

The pledge comes as the competition between rival centres, including Dublin, Paris and Frankfurt, gathers pace, with global banks expected to chose one of these cities as a base for doing business within the EU in the coming weeks.

Lobbyists promoting Paris as a financial centre have also sought to loosen rules governing dismissals but the idea was rejected by the country’s previous government.

Bouffier said he had Merkel’s backing in winning banks for Frankfurt. bloc the